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SEMICENTENNIAL 



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CELEBRATION 



OF 



MIDDLEBUBY COLLEGE. 




MDCCCL. 



L. W. CLARK, Publisher.— Price, 50 Cents. 



ADDRESSES AND PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



SEMICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



OF 



'MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE, 



HELD AT 



MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT, AUGUST, 20, 21 AND 22, 1850. 



MIDDLEBURY : 

PBINTED BY JUSTUS COBB, BEGISTEB OFFICE. 

1850. 
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At a meeting of the Committee of Arrangements, for the Semi- 
centennial Celebration of Middlebury College, on Saturday, the 
24th day of August, A. D. 1850, the following resolution was unan- 
imously passed : — 

Resolved, That the Associated Alumni wish to express their 
deep indebtedness to Rev. President Labaree, Rev. President 
Bates, Eev. Professor Hough and John G. Saxe, Esq., for their 
contributions at the late Celebration ; and that Messrs. E. D. Bar- 
ber, J. A. Beckwith, and E. R. Wright, be a Committee to solicit 
of these gentlemen, copies of the Addresses and Poem delivered by 
them, and to take suitable measures for the publication of the same, 
together with the accompanying proceedings of the Jubilee. 

Dugald Stewart, Secretary. 



INTRODUCTION. 



At the Annual Meeting of the Associated Alumni of Middlebury 
College, on Commencement day, 1846, Rev. R. C. Hand introduced 
a resolution to the effect, that the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Col- 
lege, to occur in 1850, should be suitably commemorated. This res- 
olution was unanimously adopted, and a Committee was appointed 
to propose measures for the Celebration. The Committee consisted 
of William Slade, R. C. Hand, P. Battell, E. D. Barber, James 
Meacham, S. P. Lathrop, R. S. Cushman and Lyman Matthews. 

At the annual meeting in 1848, which was unusually well at- 
tended, P. Battell, Esq., presented the following report from the 
Committee and the same was unanimously adopted. 

" The Committee appointed to propose a plan for the Celebration 
of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Middlebury College, to be held on 
the occasion of the Commencement, A. D. 1850, respectfully 
recommend : 

That the exercises of the Celebration be commenced by a Ser- 
mon, on the evening of the day of Commencement, and that some 
one of the former officers of the College be invited to deliver the 
same. 

That the succeeding exercises of the occasion take place on the 
day following Commencement, and consist of a Historical Discourse, 
in reference to the deceased Alumni, and a Poem. 

That an Anniversary Dinner shall be provided on the grounds of 
of the College in the afternoon, with such exercises as shall be as- 
signed to that occasion, by the Committee of Arrangements. 

That the graduates of the College, universally, as Members of 
the Associated Alumni, consider themselves called on to meet and 
participate in this important festival of their Alma Mater ; and that 
the Corporation of the Institution, and the Faculty be requested to 



vi MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 


unite with the Associated Alumni in devising suitable 


arrangements. 


The Committee further recommend that a Committee of Ay- 


rangements for the Jubilee, be now appointed, to consist on the part 


of the Alumni of twenty-five members, to act in concert with such 


Committee as the Corporation may appoint ; and that this Committee 


shall make a seasonable assignment of the parts provided for in this 


report ; — subject, however, to such modifications as 


shall seem to 


them desirable, — and take all necessary measures to 


carry the plan 


into complete effect." 




The following gentlemen were then nominated and appointed to 


constitute such Committee, viz. : 




Hon. William Slade, of the class of 


1807 


Hon, Samuel Nelson, 


1813 


E. W. Chester, Esq,, 


1818 


Rev. Samuel C. Jackson, 


1821 


Rev. John B. Shaw, 


1823 


Rev. Stephen Olin, D. D., 


1820 


Rev. Richard C. Hand, 


1822 


Hon. Horace Eaton, 


1825 


Rev. J. W. Chickering, 


1826 


J. S. Bushnell, Esq., 


u 


Philip Battell, Esq., 


u 


Rev. Henry Smith, D. D., 


1827 


Robert L. Cook, Esq., 


a 


Rev. J. J. Owen, D. D., 


1828 


E. D. Barber, Esq., 


1829 


Rev. Truman M. Post, 


a 


Prof. William H. Parker, 


1830 


Hon. James Meacham, 


1832 


Rev. R. S. Cushman, 


1837 


E. R. Wright, Esq., 


1838 


G. S. Swift, Esq., 


1839 


J. A. Beckwith, Esq., 


1840 


Dugald Stewart, Esq., 


1842 


C. C. P. Clark, M. D., 


1843 


J. H. Barrett, Esq., 


1845 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

The Committee entered upon the duties assigned them, and made 
arrangements for the celebration, which are sufficiently noted in 
the following Circular : 

" Semi- Centennial Anniversary of the ^ Commencement of Middlebury 
College, the third Wednesday in August, A. D. 1850. 

At a large and spirited meeting of the Alumni of the College, 
held at the Chapel on the Commencement day of 1848, it was 
unanimously resolved that the fiftieth anniversary of the College 
ought to be suitably commemorated. A committee, of twenty-five 
gentlemen was appointed, to report a method of celebration, and 
to nominate persons, from the former officers and from the Alumni, 
to take parts in its exercises. That committee, at the Commence- 
ment of 1849, made a report, which was accepted and adopted, as 
follows : 

After the usual Commencement exercises, an Address on the Re- 
ligious History of the College, by the Rev. Joshua Bates, D. D., 
formerly President ; and a Sermon, by the Rev. Stephen Olin, 
D. D., President of Middletown University — substitute, the Rt. 
Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, D. D., Bishop of Rhode Island. 

The exercises of Thursday will consist of a Salutatory Address, 
by the Rev. Benjamin- Lab aree, D. D., President of the College; 
a Historical Discourse, by the Rev. N. S. S. Beman, D. D., of 
Troy, N. Y., — substitute, the Rev. Henry Smith, D. D., Presi- 
ident of Marietta College ; an Eulogy on the Deceased Alumni, by 
the Rev. John Hough, D. D., of Ohio, formerly Professor for many 
years, — substitute, the Rev. George B. Ide, D. D., of Philadel- 
phia ; and a Poem by John G. Saxe, Esquire, A. M., of High- 
gate, — substitute, the Hon. Horace Eaton, A. M., of Middlebury. 

After the exercises of Thursday shall have been concluded, a Ju- 
bilee dinner will be served on the College Grounds, to be attended 
with Music, and with the appropriate enlivenments of speech, and 
toast, and song. 

The lines of railway, which are now in operation, place Middle- 
bury within ten hours ride of Boston, and within twenty-four 
of New York City. The citizens of Middlebury have not lost their 



VU1 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

long cherished affection for our College ; our officers are from among 
our own number ; citizens and officers will alike welcome the return 
of familiar faces. 

It is ardently hoped that all of the Alumni, scattered as they are 
throughout the world, will come up with their wives and children, 
and make this festival the occasion of the renewal of old ties and 
associations ; of the formation of new friendships ; and an epoch in 
the history of our College from which she may date a stronger im- 
pulse in the advancement of sound learning, and a more extended 
usefulness. 

The aim of the Corporation to procure endowments for the Col- 
lege has been partly attained, — one third of the sum proposed hav- 
ing been secured, — and we look to the occasion before us, to mark 
the completion of this undertaking. A biographical record of the 
Alumni is in process of publication. It is desired to collect the 
printed memoirs or portraits of distinguished graduates or benefac- 
tors ; especially the printed works of the Alumni, including school- 
books, periodicals edited by them, pamphlets and other printed 
matter, to which an alcove of the library will be assigned ; and con- 
tributions of specimens, illustrations, or books, in any of the de- 
partments of science, literature or art, or of mere curiosity, would 
constitute a memorial of our meeting, ever to be remembered with 
pleasure. 

As the residences of many of the Alumni are unknown to the 
Committee, it is hoped that those who may receive this circular, will 
so far as is convenient, convey its information to all of our number 
within the circle of their acquaintance. 

J. A. BECKWITH, ) xt /v j? 

D. Stewart, ( f or Com ' °{ 
J. H. Barrett, ) Arrangements. 

Middlebury, Vt., Dec, 1849." 

This circular was sent to every Alumnus of the College, whose 
residence could be ascertained by the committee. 






THE CELEBRATION 



FIRST DAY. 

PRELIMINARY MEETING OF THE ALUMNI. 

Tuesday Morning, August 20th, 1850. 

On Tuesday morning, at ten o'clock, the usual preliminary and 
social meeting of the Alumni was held at the College Chapel. 
Joshua Bates, Jr. Esq., of Boston, was called to the Chair, aud two 
or three hours were very agreeably occupied in exchanging congrat- 
ulations, and in discussing the affairs of the College. Committees 
were appointed for the nomination of officers, and for conference 
with the Corporation, in regard to the best means of advancing the 
interests of the Institution. 

The College Societies. 
At 2 o'clock, P. M., a meeting of the Honorary and other mem- 
bers of the Philomathesian Society, was held at the Chapel. A 
procession was formed and moved to the Congregational Church, 
where the Society was addressed by the Rev. Truman M. Post, of 
St. Louis, Missouri, and the Philadelphian Society, by the Rev. 
Edwin F. Hatfield, D. D., of New York City. 

The Parkerian Speakers, 
The usual speaking for prizes, by the three younger classes in 
College, was attended by a very large and attentive audience on 
the evening of Tuesday. 

SECOND DAY. 

Commencement Day. 

Pliably the largest assemblage of Graduates of the College, 
which has ever met, was gathered on the morning of Commence- 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



ment Day, at the College Chapel. Five graduates of the class of 
1805 were present. Numbers came up to the festivities who had 
not visited the place of their Alma Mater for twenty and even, thirty 
years. The utmost harmony and good feeling characterized the 
meeting. A registry was opened, in which some of the graduates 
recorded their names, but owing to the limited time, many omitted 
to do so, and the register (which is to be found in the Appendix) 
is necessarily incomplete. 

At 9 o'clock, A. M., the procession moved to the Church, where 
the usual exercises of Commencement were held. 

At 1-2 past 1 o'clock, P. M., the procession moved to a pavilion 
erected near the Vermont Hotel, on grounds politely tendered by 
Joseph Warner, Esq., where the usual Corporation Dinner was 
provided. 

At 3 o'clock'the procession was again formed and marched to 
the Church where an oration was pronounced before the Society of 
the Associated Alumni, by the Hon. Alexander W. Buel, Mem- 
ber of Congress, from Detroit, Michigan. 

Immediately after the oration of Mr. Buel had been pronounced, 
a meeting of the Alumni was held at the Vestry of the Church. 
The President of the College and several members of the Corpora- 
tion were present, by invitation. A free discussion upon the finan- 
cial interests of the College was held, in which E. D. Barber, John 
Mattocks, William Slade, William Slade, Jr., J. F. Goodhue, G. 
C. Beckwith, N. S. S. Beman, A. Hyde and others participated. 
The result of the conference was a recommendation to the Trustees 
of the College to make an addition to the Corporation, of the 
younger men of the Alumni.* 

On Wednesday evening Rev. Dr. Labaree, President of the 
College, opened his house for the reception of visitors. Several 
hundreds of the Alurani, friends of the Institution, citizens and 
strangers availed themselves of his polite invitation. The evening 



* [This was subsequently done by the Trustees, who elected Rev. J. Mat- 
tocks, C. T. Hulburd, Esq., Joshua Bates, Jr., Esq. and Dr. B. L. Wales, as 
members of their body.] 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CELEBRATION. 



was beautiful, the entertainment was excellent ; and the festivities 
protracted to a late hour, were throughout enlivened, bj the music 
of the Lowell Brass Band, under the direction of Mr. Hall. 

Rev. Dr. Olin and Rev. Dr. Beman, who were expected to take 
parts in the exercises of the day, by reason of ill health, were 
unable to perform the duties assigned them. 

THIRD DAY. 

Thursday, August, 22d. 

The exercises of the celebration proper, commenced on Thursday 
morning, at 8 o'clock, with a meeting of the Alumni at the Chapel. 
The meeting was a very full one, the assemblage filling the body of 
the Chapel. Hon. A. W. Buel, one of the Vice Presidents, took 
the chair. A resolution was introduced by Edgar L. Ormsbee, 
Esq., of Rutland who made a happy and powerful argument in 
favor of its adoption. The resolution was in these words : 

" Resolved, That we make the necessities of our Alma Mater our 
necessities ; and treating them as a family matter, we will exert 
ourselves to provide for them accordingly." 

After a thorough discussion, in which Rev. Dr. Beman, Rev. J. P. 
Goodhue, Hon. Wm. Slade, E. D. Barber, Esq., Silas H. Hodges, 
Esq., Rev. John Mattocks, Rev. Geo. C. Beckwith, Philip Bat- 
tell, Esq. Wm. Slade, Jr., Esq., and Rev. Mr. Bingham, of Phila- 
delphia, participated, the resolution was unanimously adopted. 

At 9 o'clock, A. M., the procession formed on the College 
grounds, and moved to the Church in the following order: 

Order of Procession. 

1. The Undergraduates in order of classes. 

The Band. 

2. The President of the College. 

8. Ex-President Bates, Ex-Prof. Hough, and Ex-members 
of the Corporation. 

4. The Corporation of the College. 

5. The Faculty of the College. 

6. The Alumni in the order of graduation, commencing 

with the class of 1805. 



6 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

Gen. F. W. Hopkins, of Rutland, Chief Marshal. 

Assistant Marshals. 
Messrs. E. R. Wright, Samuel Everts, 

A. S. Jones, E. Y. Swift, 

H. M. Slade. 

The sun shone brightly through the day and the air was rendered 
cool and pleasant by the breeze. The streets were filled with the 
people of the surrounding country, and the several trains of cars, 
arriving through the day, contributed materially to swell the as- 
semblage. On arriving at the church the house was densely 
crowded with citizens and strangers, — the centre of the house and a 
portion of the galleries having alone been reserved for the proces- 
sion. Upon the platform at the right of the pulpit, were noticed 
the venerable Dr. Bates and Dr. Hough, and upon the left were 
observed the surviving pioneers of education, who had done so much 
for the interests of the College, Rev» Dr. Merrill, Hon. Mr. Starr, 
Hon. Mr. Seymour, Hon. Mr. Stewart, Hon. Judge Swift, Rev. 
Dr. Beman and others. 

The galleries were thronged with a bright array of ladies from 
our own, and from nearly every State of the Union, — the wives and 
daughters who had come up with their fathers and husbands to 
participate in the festivities of the occasion. 

The exercises commenced with a prayer by the Rev. Dr. France- 
way R. Cossitt, late President of Cumberland College, Kentucky, 
an Alumnus of the class of 1813. 

After music, Rev. Dr. Labaree, President of the College, pro- 
nounced a salutatory oration, as follows. 



SALUTATORY ADDRESS 



BY 



PRESIDENT LABAREE. 



PRESIDENT LABAREE'S ADDRESS. 



SALUTATORY ADDRESS 

BY 

PRESIDENT LABAREE. 



Mr. President and G-entlemen Alumni :— 

Fiety years have now elapsed since Middlebury Col- 
lege took its place among the Literary Institutions of our country, 
and we have assembled to celebrate, with appropriate exercises and 
festivities, its Semi-Centennial Anniversary. 

To me, the pleasing duty has been assigned of greeting you with 
salutations befitting this deeply interesting occasion. I am com- 
missioned, gentlemen, to bid you an earnest and a hearty welcome 
to Middlebury. We intend that you shall receive more substantial 
proof of the sincere pleasure we derive from your visit, than lan- 
guage alone can convey, yet we must be permitted to give at least 
brief utterance to the joyous emotions of our hearts. 

The Committee of Arrangements, gentlemen, desire me in their 
name to bid you welcome. They have done what they could to in- 
duce a large number of the sons of the College to attend this An- 
niversary, and they are exceedingly gratified that so many of their 
brethren have cheerfully responded to their invitation, and by their 
personal attendance have expressed their interest in the Institution 
and in this occasion. 

You represent, gentlemen, all the learned professions and many 
of the most important avocations in life. I see before me, states- 
men, politicians, college officers, jurists, clergymen, lawyers, physi- 
cians, editors, teachers and men of business. And your places of 
abode are not less diverse, than your occupations. The cities and 
prairies of the great "West, the towns and villages of the extreme 
East, the sunny climes of the South, and the frost-bound dominions 
of Queen Victoria, have sent hither delegates. The old Keystone 



10 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

has not forgotten us, and the great Empire has furnished a gener- 
ous representation. You come, too, from the Granite and the Bay 
States, and from the good land of steady habits, and not a few, from 
the valleys and hill sides of our own Green Mountain State. Of 
whatever profession or occupation, from whatever town, or state, 
or country, you come, we say from our hearts, iveleome, welcome 
to the old homestead, sons of Middlebury. 

I am authorized by the citizens of Middlebury to bid you wel- 
come, and to tender you freely and cordially their hospitalities. 
They have cherished the Institution in the midst of them with pa- 
rental care ; they have rejoiced in its prosperity, they have sympa- 
thized in its trials ; again and again have they rallied around it, and 
bestowed upon it, liberal benefactions. With many of them it is 
the child of affection and of hope, and whatever seems to promise 
it aid and encouragement, they hail with grateful hearts. They 
have followed the classes which have in succession gone forth from 
these Halls of Science to fields of usefulness and stations of honor, 
and now as you return to these scenes endeared as your College 
home, they are most happy to meet you, and to make you their 
welcome guests. Yet some of you, no doubt, find yourselves in 
the midst of strangers. Twenty, thirty, perhaps forty years have 
elapsed since you took leave of your friends in this village, and 
what a change do you now witness. One and another and another, 
alas, how many, are no longer numbered with the living. The hon- 
orable, the wise and the useful, the aged and the young have been 
conveyed to their final resting place. Of that worthy and devoted 
band of matrons, who so long and so earnestly bore the spiritual 
interest of the college on hearts of faith and hope to the throne of 
grace, but few remain. That widowed mother in Israel, from whom 
many of you were accustomed to receive counsel, aid and sympa- 
thy, has gone to her reward. " Blessed are the dead, that die in 
the Lord, and their works do follow them." 

The mantles of the departed have fallen upon meritorious suc- 
cessors, who will endeavor to make you forget, if they can, that 
you are not surrounded by old acquaintances and long-tried friends. 

The Faculty of the College, gentlemen, desire me to make to you 



PRESIDENT LABAREE'S ADDRESS. 11 

their respectful salutations. The position they oecupj is a labori- 
ous and a responsible one ; it has its trials too. No hope of indo- 
lent ease, no promise of the otium cum dignitate, no lure of golden 
treasure holds them in these places. Stronger ties than these bind 
them to Middlebury College. They regard it as an important a- 
gency for doing good, they believe it capable of diffusing light and 
virtue and happiness through the community, of elevating the aims, 
and disciplining the minds, and wisely directing the energies of 
young men, who, in due time, may become useful, intelligent and 
influential citizens. Next to the high duty of preparing the soul 
for its final resting place above, we know of none more important, 
more responsible, or more delightful than that of aiding the young 
in forming their characters and preparing their minds and hearts for 
a career of honor and usefulness, among their fellow men. At any 
time, gentlemen, we should be most happy to see you in Middle- 
bury, but in present circumstances we cannot fully express the grat- 
ification we derive from your visit. By the interchange of friend- 
ly greetings, by your kind sympathies and timely counsels, we hope 
to receive fresh courage and fresh impulse, in the work, to which 
we have been called. 

We are the successors of those worthy men who exerted a prom- 
inent agency in moulding your intellectual characters, and their 
success in training men for the service of their country and the 
world, will be to us a powerful and an ever present stimulus in the 
same important work. But those instructors, where are they now ? 
Why come they not all up to mingle in these joyous festivities ? 
Some, alas, have been withdrawn from the scenes of earth. Hul- 
burd, Allen, Hall, Patton, Turner, Stoddard, all sleep the sleep of 
death, but their memories are embalmed in the hearts of their pu- 
pils. Since its organization, Middlebury College has been aided in 
its successful literary career by fifteen different professors, of whom 
nine still survive. The oldest of them, who for twenty-seven years 
so ably filled different chairs of instruction, has made us glad by 
his presence on this occasion. Welcome, sir, welcome again to Mid- 
dlebury. 

Of the four Presidents, none are yet numbered among the dead. 



12 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



Two are detained from this festival by age and infirmities, and one, 
my venerable predecessor, "who served the College long and faith- 
fully, has kindly come hither to meet once more his numerous friends 
and affectionate pupils, and to express his unabated interest in the 
Institution. To you, sir, all hearts say welcome. 

The Corporation of the College, gentlemen, direct me to speak 
in their behalf. They wish to mingle their voices in this universal 
welcome. It has given them the sincerest pleasure to see so large 
a number of the graduates of the College return again to visit the 
place of their early education. 

They are not all strangers to you, gentlemen ; you there recog- 
nise familiar faces, though scarred with the conflicts of life and en- 
compassed with the silver locks of age. Great has been their anx- 
iety, hard has been their toil, and neither few nor small have been 
their sacrifices for the Institution under their guardianship. But 
as they now cast their eyes over this assembly, and associate with 
those present, the absent, and the departed, and call to mind the 
posts of honor and of usefulness, that have been filled, and the good 
that has been done by men educated at this College, I cannot be- 
lieve that their anxieties, their toils and their sacrifices will, for a 
moment, be regretted. 

You look in vain, gentlemen, among these curators, for some, 
whom the oldest of you, at least, have been accustomed to see on 
this platform. The founders of the College, where are they ? 
Painter, Miller, Storrs, Matthews ; gone, gone to the tomb. The 
last survivor of the noble band, we had hoped to see with us on this 
occasion — but Chipman, too, has been gathered to his fathers. But 
though dead, they yet speak. Their benevolence, their spirit of 
enterprise, their liberal, comprehensive views, still discourse elo- 
quently to their successors, and to all. They laid the foundations 
of an Institution at a time when the wants of the community im- 
periously demanded it. Young, vigorous, enterprising Vermont 
had no seminary of learning, and seemed not likely to have any, in 
which her aspiring sons could enjoy the advantages of a liberal ed- 
ucation. With resolute hearts and liberal hands, they generously 



PRESIDENT LABAREE'S ADDRESS. 13 

stepped forward to supply the deficiency, and could they now re- 
visit these scenes, and together contemplate the rich and abiding 
fruits of their patriotic zeal and self-sacrifice, would they not look 
upon that achievement, as the most illustrious of their lives. 

So long as Vermont shall continue a christian commonwealth, so 
long as her people shall have minds to think and hearts to feel, so 
long will those men be regarded as the truest friends of their coun- 
try, and the best benefactors of their race. Statues may be erected to 
commemorate the martial exploits of our heroes, but there is more 
true honor, dignity and glory in establishing an Institution for the 
diffusion of intelligence, virtue and piety among the people, than 
in all the triumphs that have marked the footsteps of the hero and 
the conqueror, from the earliest period to the present hour ! and 
though no proud monument may tell the spot where the dust of the 
modest philanthropist reposes, the gratitude of an intelligent peo- 
ple, the approbation of the wise and the good, are more honorable 
and more enduring than monuments carved in marble. 

If there is any evidence of want of wisdom on the part of those 
magnanimous men, it is found in the attempt to establish an Insti- 
tution of a high order without adequate endowments ; yet I have 
been assured by the last survivor, the Hon. Daniel Chipman, that 
the attempt never would have been made, had there not been at 
the time a confident expectation of receiving the income from the 
public lands of the state. That hope was not realized, and no re- 
source was left, but to throw the Institution upon the benevolence 
of a people so capable of appreciating its value and importance ; 
and the appeal was not made in vain. Benefactors arose, and ben- 
efactors have since arisen, who after the example of the benevolent 
founders have generously contributed pecuniary aid to sustain the 
College, and enlarge its sphere of usefulness. Among them we 
will ever record with gratitude, the names of Hunt, Burr and War- 
ren. Most gladly would we pronounce the names of some gener- 
ous benefactors now living, but the proprieties of the occasion seem 
to forbid. To all such, the corporation express their deep sense of 
gratitude. 

Gentlemen, I seem to hear the voice of your Alma Mater speak- 



14 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

ing complacently in my ear and saying, " In my name, too, bid 
them welcome." Alma Mater desires to give her sons, a cordial 
and an affectionate greeting. On an occasion like this, it would be 
quite pardonable, would it not, if an emotion of pride should be a- 
wakened in her maternal heart, and if she should be tempted to 
employ the language of self-gratulation. I therefore, bespeak for 
her a little kind indulgence. — She thinks, that she has reared a 
goodly family ; in numbers by no means inconsiderable, 877 : and 
in character and standing such as may well gratify a parent's fond- 
est ambition. It has ever been her aim, and she intends it ever 
shall be, to train her sons, not for mere visionaries and theorists, but 
for practical, efficient and useful citizens, and she is most happy to 
find, on reviewing the past half century, that her endeavors in this 
regard have been so fully realized. She has followed them as 
they have from time to time bidden her adieu, and have gone forth 
to take their places among the actors in the great drama of life. — 
She has traced them round the globe : has seen them laboring assid- 
uously for the highest good of their race in many lands, — among 
the aborigines of our Western Wilderness, on the densely peopled 
plains of India, and on the far distant Islands of the ocean. At 
home, they have been called to fill the most honorable and impor- 
tant offices in civil, political and ecclesiastical life. She has seen 
them occupying commanding and influential positions in the Halls 
of our National Legislature, on the bench of justice, and in the gub- 
ernatorial chair. She has heard their eloquence in the forum. In 
the higher departments of education, they have stood in the fore- 
most rank. She can number among them nine Presidents of Col- 
Colleges and higher Seminaries, and at least forty professors in 
such Institutions, besides a very large number of devoted and effi- 
cient instructors of High Schools, and Academies. Four hundred 
of them have chosen the clerical profession, and in at least six 
christian denominations, they have held no second rank ; twenty- 
four of the number have consecrated themselves to the work of For- 
eign Missions. Many of her sons, too, have been honored and use- 
ful in the department of Medicine. In all the learned professions 
and in various departments of education, they have made valuable 



PBESIDENT LABAREE'S ADDRESS. 15 

contributions to the literature of the nation. As she thus surveys 
the past, your Alma Mater feels that she has not lived in vain. 
She is happy to know that nearly seven hundred of her sons have 
survived the first half century of her life, and she is most grateful 
for the respect and filial affection shown by so many in this Semi- 
centennial visit. 

Gentlemen, your Alma Mater can speak of her joys and her tri- 
umphs, but like many a patient, uncomplaining mother, she leaves 
her sorrows and her trials for others to tell. She has been com- 
pelled to struggle with hardships and afflictions for many years. No 
state patronage has relieved her embarrassments, no cheering voice 
of encouragement has come to her from the halls of legislation ; 
sustained alone by the kind liberality of her faithful friends and 
dutiful sons, she has pursued, uninterruptedly, her onward course, 
in her high endeavors to support and strengthen the two great pil- 
lars of this nation, intelligence and virtue, and to guide the human 
soul to its Maker and Redeemer. 

Yet limited as have been her resources, she presents a well train- 
ed family, which will suffer nothing in comparison with those sons 
who have been nurtured in the lap of ease and luxury. " The 
race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." 

Knowing full well that her dowry is by no means so ample as 
could be desired, and that toils and hardships are still before her, 
yet with a pleasing consciousness of having performed a great and 
a good work with very inadequate means, and with brightening 
visions of coming prosperity, she determines, firmly and courageous- 
ly, not only to maintain her vantage ground, but to press for- 
ward to yet higher degrees of usefulness ; and to this end she com- 
mits herself earnestly yet confidingly, to her God, to her friends, 
and — to her children. 



ADDRESS 



OF 



REV. JOSHUA BATES, D. D, 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. * 19 

ADDRESS 

BY 

JOSHUA BATES, D. D. 



Gentlemen, Alumni of Middlebury College : 

I stand before you, to-day, under circumstances of peculiar in- 
terest,- Not without interest, I have often met most of you in yon- 
der chapel and lecture room. But our meeting to-day seems to ac- 
cumulate the various interests of our former intercourse, as pupils 
and teacher ; and by its associations, at once with the past and the 
future, to concentrate these interests, and give intensity and com- 
bined force to all those feelings, which belong to our former rela- 
tion, present pursuits and future prospects. Indeed, the time and 
place, with all the circumstances of the occasion, conspire to ren- 
der the meeting peculiarly interesting to you and to me, to the 
present Faculty and members of Middlebury College ; and, I may 
add, to this whole assembly, with the surrounding community. 
Yes ; the occasion is one of no ordinary occurrence. It brings 
with it deep thoughts and high associations. It calls up, and places 
before the mind, scenes and events, lodged deep in the memory of 
the past ; while it brings into view, prospects and anticipations of 
the future, extending as far as the imagination can reach forth its 
outstretched arm, or glance its penetrating eye. 

A period of fifty years has elapsed, since an act of the Legisla- 
ture of Vermont gave birth to your venerated Alma Mater. We 
need not stop to settle the question, whether she was born in the 
eighteenth or in the nineteenth century. We leave the discussion 
of that mooted point to quibblers in chronology. Sufficient for our 
purpose is the fact, that this is the Semi-Centenial Anniversary of 
Middlebury College, calling her sons together, to celebrate her first 
Literary Jubilee. Ihe occasion, therefore, is full of interest, and 
fruitful in thoughts and feelings — thoughts, clustering around 



20 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

every reflecting mind, and feelings pressing upon every heart of 
sensibility : so fruitful, indeed, that the only difficulty with those 
■who are called to speak on the occcasion, is to make a proper se- 
lection of topics ; and give them unity, prominence and adaptation; 
and thus by their distinctness, connexion and rapidity of presenta- 
tion, to meet the claims and satisfy the expectations of those who 
hear. 

That I may perform the part of the exercises of the occasion, 
which devolves on me, as well as I can, I shall select, arrange and 
discuss those topics, which seem to me most appropriate, and which 
can be most readily classified and brought under the general sub- 
ject assigned to me by the Committee of Arrangements : 

The relations of the College to tee religious intebests oe 
Society. 

To prepare the way for presenting a distinct view of this rela- 
tion, and exhibiting the influence which the Institution has exerted, 
is now exerting and will probably hereafter exert, on the religious 
interests of this community, and on the interests of society at large 
— on the church, the country, and the world, I have a few prelimi- 
nary remarks to make. 

I begin with the general remark, that mind acts on mind; some- 
times directly, and sometimes by an indirect and remote influence ; 
but always surely, and with a force equal to its own weight, and in 
a direction corresponding with the course of its self-moving power 
and inherent tendency. Thus familiar intercourse with a great 
mind makes great men, and the influence of a high literary Insti- 
tution is proportionably extensive. Such an Institution acts pow- 
erfully on the surrounding community ; by producing a desire for 
learning, and diffusing it through the whole region of adjacent 
country. 

Not less important is the remark, that this action of mind on 
mind, is moral as well as intellectual* The emotions of the soul 
are a constituent part of the soul itself, intimately connected with 
the perceptive faculties andfwith the discriminating powers of rea- 
son and judgment. _They] exert, of course, a strong influence on 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 21 

these powers and faculties ; either purifying and elevating them ; 
or confusing and perplexing their operations, and thus throwing 
darkness over the understating and obstructing or perverting the 
streams of knowledge. Indeed, in our estimation of the character 
of a man, or of the value and importance of an Institution of 
Learning, the intellectual and moral qualities of the former, and 
the intellectual and moral tendencies of the latter, are never to be 
separated. The salutary influence of a man of learning and high 
intellectual powers and attainments, depends much on the question, 
whether the learning be " good learning," and the powers and at- 
tainments be sanctified, and consecrated to the cause of truth and 
piety and benevolence. So, likewise, the beneficial influence of a 
literary institution, on the religious and best interests of society, 
depends in no small degree on the religious character of the insti- 
tution itself. It may be a source of knowledge : but unless the 
salt of Divine Grace be cast into the fountain and purify its waters, 
the streams which flow from it, will never make glad the city of 
God, nor promote the happiness of man. 

Another remark, having a direct bearing on the proposed illus- 
tration of our subject, is, that this action of mind on mind, both in- 
tellectual and moral, and especially through the medium of a lit- 
erary institution, is always reciprocal. As an institution, well fur- 
nished with pious and learned professors, exerts a direct and salu- 
tary influence on the community, where it is located ; so does the 
surrounding community, in turn, act on the institution ; giving it its 
character, and modifying its influence, at home and abroad. In- 
deed, it may be said, that a good literary institution can never find 
a lodgement, much less a permanent residence and vigorous growth, 
among a people of limited views and selfish, contracted feelings. 
That it may take deep root, and spread its branches wide, such an 
institution must be planted in a genial soil ; and under the cultiva- 
ting hand of the planter, must draw from it, generous and never- 
failing nutriment. 

With these preliminary observations in view, I proceed to the 
illustration of the subject, already announced ; and remark, that 
Middlebury College was instituted at the proper time, to give it 



22 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

power and enable it to exert an influence, favorable to the cause of 
religion and the best interests of society. The wants of the com- 
munity in this vicinity — indeed, of the whole State, demanded at 
that period, such- an institution. For there was, then in operation, 
no College within the limits of Vermont ; and all the inhabitants 
who wished to give their sons a liberal education, were obliged to 
send them out of the State, at great expense and with great incon- 
venience. It is true, an act of incorporation had been previously 
passed by the Legislature, for the purpose of erecting such an in- 
stitution of learning as the public good seemed to require. But 
the enactment had, to that period, slept in the archives of the State. 
For eight long years, the expected institution had lain in its em- 
bryo-state ; till expectation concerning it had ceased, and hope had 
died. And whether it would ever have been quickened into life, 
without the stimulating appliances of rivalry, is a question not now 
to be settled. Sufficient for our present purpose is the fact, that 
there was no organized College in the New State, as Vermont was 
then called ; when in obedience to the loud calls of the public voice 
and the urgent claims of the public good, the Legislature passed 
the act, which created, and called into immediate life and action, 
this beloved institution. It was, as I said, the proper time ; for 
the times, and the exigencies of the State demanded the act ; and 
the community were waiting to receive the grant, and . found and 
sustain the institution. Immediately, therefore, after the act of 
incorporation was passed, in the year 1800, the foundation of the 
institution was laid, and the superstructure began to rise. It 
rose rapidly, sending joy to the hearts of its liberal founders and 
generous benefactors, diffusing abroad a salutary influence, and 
causing the pious everywhere to rejoice. 

Again, I remark, that Middlebury College was not only instituted 
at the proper time, but it received a location at the proper place, to 
render it eminently useful, and to secure in a high degree the end 
of its establishment. It was placed in a town, in a county, in a 
region of country, most favorable for the exertion of such an influ- 
ence upon it, as was calculated to give it a high character, and fit 
it to exert, in turn, a salutary reciprocal influence on society — to 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 2 



9 



spread abroad its healing and refreshing waters, in every direction, 
over the hills and through the valleys, irrigating and fertilizing the 
remotest regions of the State. 

Middlebury and its vicinity -was a favored spot ; well adapted to 
the rise and growth and permanent good influence of a literary in- 
stitution. Its first settlers were intelligent, generous men — en- 
lightened, noble-hearted men. They came from the regions of light, 
good principles and " steady habits " ; and they brought with them 
much of the high character and pure principles of their ancestors. 
They came, most of them, from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
New Hampshire, where the first and best literary institutions of 
the country were located ; where churches and school-houses rose, 
side by side ; where religion and learning had been brought by the 
Pilgrim-fathers ; and from the first settlement of New England had 
exerted their highest and best influences. Or we may trace the 
genealogy of the first settlers of Middlebury and its vicinity still 
farther back. They were all of the Anglo- Saxon race ; in whose 
veins flowed nothing but Saxon blood, giving strength to Saxon 
muscles and stimulating Saxon brains. Yes ; and this blood, flow- 
ing through the great English heart, had been cleansed by the in- 
haling of a Puritan atmosphere, which gave strength and energy 
to the nerves that incite both body and mind to action. 

These first settlers on the banks of Otter Creek were truly an en- 
terprizing people ; with such views and principles and habits, as 
justified the Legislature of the State, in fixing the location of the 
newly chartered College among them ; and enabled them to make 
it, as far as depended on them, what it was designed to be — what, 
indeed, it has been, a blessing to their children, to the church, to 
the surrounding community, to the world. 

Middlebury College, I remark again, was not only instituted at 
the proper time, and located in the proper place ; but it received 
the best organization, to render it an efficient instrument' of " good 
learning " ; a medium of blessed influence, both intellectual and 
moral, social and religious. Those who founded it, and those who 
had the management of the rising structure, seem to have under- 



24 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

stood the meaning of the term, education. Of course, they made 
provision for drawing forth and leading forward the innate powers 
of the opening mind — for giving exercise to the various faculties of 
the soul ; so that the Alumni of the College might not stop in their 
literary course, at the close of their pupilage, and remain sciolists 
for ever ; but might know how to pursue their course alone ; and by 
subsequent self-culture, grow to the stature of manhood, and be- 
come active and vigorous laborers in the broad fields of literature 
and in the deep mines of science. 

The Latin and Greek, as they have sometimes been called, the 
learned languages, and the abstract mathematical sciences, those 
bones and sinews of a liberal education, were made the grand ele- 
ments in the prescribed course of study. On this account, the or- 
ganization was adapted to exert a happy influence on the intellect- 
ual and moral character of the pupils. For these two branches of 
study, as long experience has shown, furnish the most efficient ex- 
ercises, to secure a thorough discipline of the various faculties of 
the soul ; fixing the attention and strengthening the memory ; quick- 
ening the perceptive, and guiding the reflective powers ; controlling 
the associations and purifying the emotions ; giving activity and a- 
cuteness to the powers of comparison and discrimination, and thus 
aiding reason in all her operations, directing fancy in all her flights, 
and teaching imagination, with an accurate and delicate taste, to 
make her new combinations, and beautify all her creations. In- 
deed, with all the objections, which theorists have urged against 
these studies, and all the experiments and inventions which have 
been made, in the art of teaching, no substitute has yet been found, 
which could supply the place of these branches of study, in disci- 
plining the mind, and forming accurate and finished scholars. 

The objections usually alleged against a thorough course of 
classical studies, in a system of liberal education, I endeavored 
faithfully to state, and carefully to answer, thirty-two years ago ; 
when I stood where I now stand, and received the badges of the re- 
sponsible office, which I was permitted to hold in the College. These 
answers need not be repeated. Nor on reviewing the inaugural 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 25 

address, which I then delivered, do I discover any essential state- 
ment which subsequent experience and observation would lead me 
to suppress or modify. 

A new objection, however, has been brought forward, since that 
period ; and urged with great zeal and some plausibility. It has 
been said, that a fixed course of study, so laborious, as that of the 
ancient classics and pure mathematics, now required in most of our 
New England Colleges, is not adapted to all minds and all tastes, 
in a class of students possessing different degrees of power and en- 
ergy, and various inclinations and purposes of pursuit. But those 
who make this statement, and urge it as an objection against the 
good old sv stein, forget that the first and great purpose of a liberal 
education is to overcome the very difficulty on which the objection is 
founded — is to discipline the mind and correct the taste, to exercise 
all the mental and moral powers, strengthening the weaker parts 
and pruning off the exuberant growth of the stronger ; and thus to 
produce a balance of powers and a symmetry of character — to 
teach the pupil how to educate himself and become a finished schol- 
ar — how to make observations, classify facts and establish gener- 
al principles — how to acquire, retain, communicate, and practically 
apply knowledge, through the whole course of life. 

They forget, too, that the mind of the pupil, as well as that of 
the teacher, must be active, during the whole forming process of ed- 
ucation. If you suffer it to lie in a supine posture and remain in a 
passive state, it cannot be educated. You may lecture and in- 
struct with assiduity and faithfulness, but no valuable acquisition 
will be made by the indolent and passive pupil. Even what seems 
to be received by him, will find no permanent lodgement in his mind 
nor exert any elevating influence on his character. The knowledge 
thus communicated may lie, for a moment, on the very surface of 
his memory ; but even the memory cannot long hold it ; it will soon 
disappear. Like water spilt upon the ground, it cannot be gath- 
ered up. To become what it should be — what education is designed 
to make it, the mind of the pupil must be roused, and become ac- 
tive ; must put forth its own hand to the work of investigation, and 
apply all its energies- to the pursuit of knowledge. If any, who place 

4 



26 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

themselves, or are placed by their parents, on literary ground, can- 
not be made to do this, let them be driven from the field, or rather 
let them drop out of the course, and find their level and their 
proper place, on the broad plain of human pursuits. Thus only 
can the indolent and the stupid be removed, as nuisances, around 
the Castalian fountain, and even " graduated dunces " be made to 
raise their heads a little above the common dunces of the streets. 

These objectors forget, moreover, that education, in order to reach 
its highest destiny, and enable the most vigorous minds to seize and 
occupy the lofty position of which they are capable, must be in a 
great measure self-education. Though these grasping minds need 
assistance and direction in their studies ; and sometimes stimulating 
appliances ; they need, likewise, through the whole course of their 
pupilage, time and liberty for invention, self-control and self-culture. 
Though they should be daily fed from the teacher's hand, they must 
have time to digest their food, that it may afford them nourishment. 
The knowledge imparted by the teacher, must be received by the 
pupil ; and, according to his own principles and habits of associa- 
tion, be incorporated with these reflections of his own mind ; else 
even if retained, it will be a mere matter of memory, the borrowed 
knowledge of other minds, undigested and unfit for use, While, 
therefore, the great minds of a promiscuous class of students, are 
apparently kept back by the short lessons adapted to feebler minds, 
(and this constitutes the gist of the objection) they are all the time, 
shooting forward in the new courses, which they daily discover ; and 
under the influence of the lofty aspirations of genius are rapidly 
climbing the heights of Parnassus . I would not have such minds 
tasked to their full strength, and trammelled by the iron fetters of 
perpetual instruction. I would not have them kept continually in 
leading string with the babes around them. I would lead them as 
far as they need be led ; and aid them, as much as they need to be 
aided ; and then allow them to put forth their own strength and 
struggle for themselves. I would give them full time and fair op- 
portunity, to exercise all their powers, and exert all their native 
energies. 

This, I am persuaded, is the only way, to make great scholars, 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATE-. 27 



and effectually diminish the number of graduated sciolists and mere 
pedants. Thus only can we have " giants in the land " ; and drive 
from the field of learning, those pigmies and dwarfs, who can nev- 
er be made to grow, nor induced to take the exercise necessary to 
a healthful and vigorous growth — who must be taught every thing, 
while they learn nothing ; or rather, I might say, who are " ever 
learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 

It is fortunate, therefore, and furnishes matter for gratulation to- 
day, that these grand elements of thorough education were incorpo- 
rated in the very structure of Middlebury College, and laid at its 
very foundation ; and that, while many of the literary institutions 
of our country have been trying experiments, allowing partial 
courses of study, and permitting ignorance and whhn to make the 
election for themselves, this College has all along, through good re- 
port and evil report, adhered closely to the tried system of mathe- 
matical and classical studies ; requiring all, who enter her halls, 
to submit to the rules and pursue the sure course of mental disci- 
pline, marked out for their guidance.* 

Another, scarcely less important, element in the system of edu- 
cation, which was adopted in Middlebury College, at the beginning; 
and which she has never, for a moment, lost or disregarded ; while 
some of her sister institutions have, in this respect as well as in oth- 
others, made shipwreck of their first faith, is Analytical and Induc- 
tive Philosophy. The authors on intellectual and moral philosophy, 
whose works were studied here at first, or subsequently introduced, 
and which are still used, as text books, are those who found all their 
doctrines on experience and observation, and deduce all their gen- 
eral principles from particular facts and existing relations. They 
assume nothing as a fact, which cannot be tested by experiment. 
They admit nothing as a truth, which observation, or consciousness, 
or revelation does not establish. They place no confidence in con- 
jecture. They give no credence to untried hypothesis. They bring 
everything to the test of experience and inductive reasoning. And 
this Baconian course of philosophic research has preserved all, or 
nearly all, the sons of Middlebury College, from those wild vagaries 

*See Note, A. 



28 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

of fancy, which in our day are undermining the foundations of reas- 
on, overleaping the harriers of revelation, and plunging thousands 
into the abyss of mysticism, or involving them in the darkness of 
infidelity. 

How many, in these days of bold speculation and reckless inno- 
vation, despising the slow analytical process of Locke and Stewart 
and Brown, and other followers of Bacon, discard all observation, 
and analysis, and leave altogether the path of induction, the only 
sure path to general truths and general principles, and even over- 
leaping the " logical ideas " and " logical conditions " of Cousin,* 
make assumption, bold assumption the foundation and superstruc- 
ture, the beginning and end of all their philosophy ! If they use the 
forms of reasoning at all, it is only by synthesis ; beginning with hy- 
pothesis and ending in dogmatism. Sometimes, with Hume and 
Condillac, they plunge into gross materialism and a complete sen- 
suous philosophy. Sometimes, with Leibnitzf and Berkeley, they 
reject even the evidence of the senses, and mounting on the pinions 
of idealism, are soon absorbed in its subtilty and sink into nonentity. 
And sometimes with Kant and his followers, they at once transcend 
the regions of observation and sober inquiry altogether ; and leav- 
ing everybody behind them, and out of sight, they at last lose 
themselves in darkness, as gross and bewilderiug, as that of the 
scholastic philosophy of the dark ages. 

The extremes of sensuous and spiritualizing speculation, are a- 
like fatal to true philosophy, christian faith and all settled princi- 
ples of civil government and social order. The political action and 
social tendency of one of these extremes were fully illustrated by 
the developments and results of the French revolution of 1789 ; 
and the character of the other is now, every day, being developed, 
and receiving a rapid illustration, in the reaction of the recent 
revolutions in Germany, France, and Italy.J The middle course, 
beginning with first truths, or self-evident propositions and pur- 
sued with patient induction and rigid analysis is the only safe 
course of philosophical investigation — the only course, which 
will lead to the adoption of a pure faith, the prevalence of a 
*See Note, B. tSee Note, C. *See Note, D. 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 29 

sound morality, and the establishment of free civil institutions, in 
connexion with social order and human happiness : " In medio 
tutissimus ibis." And this, I repeat, is the course of philosophical 
inquiry and instruction, which was adopted in this College, when it 
was first organized ; and which, I believe, has been steadily pur- 
sued to the present hour. Yes ; the nights of fancy and the dreams 
of imagination, presumptuously denominated " inspirations of the 
reason," and proudly claimed by erring mortals ; have never been 
here substituted for the deductions of sober reason, and the instruc- 
tions and decisions of the sacred Scriptures. JSTor have the so- 
called " inspirations of conscience " been here permitted to take 
the place and assume the authority of the mandates of Heaven, 
and the guiding influences of the Spirit of God. 

It ought, perhaps, to be admitted, that there was a defect in the 
early provisions of this Institution, for imparting instruction, in 
many important branches, which are now considered necessary, to 
constitute a complete system of liberal education. But this was 
true, at that period, of all the Colleges in the land. Even Har- 
vard, the oldest and best endowed College in America, while I was 
under her tuition, at the close of the last century, gave no instruc- 
tion without text books ; except a short course of experimental lec- 
tures in Natural Philosophy, and a few lectures on abstract subjects, 
without any illustration addressed to the eye, or much to attract the 
ear, or interest the inquiring mind. 

This defect of the times, however, had its advantages, as well as 
its disadvantages. It threw more labor and responsibility on the 
inventive powers of the mind, and gave more opportunity for the 
efforts of genius and self-culture. There is such a thing, as giving 
too much and too various instruction, thereby distracting the atten- 
tion of pupils, or gratifying their curiosity too readily, and thus su- 
perseding the necessity of that intense and patient application to 
study, without which high attainments are never made, nor finished 
scholars ever produced. It has, indeed, become a question of prac- 
tical importance, whether less instruction by lectures, than is now 
given in some of our best endowed literary institutions, and more 



30 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



intense application to study, would not make better scholars, and 
ultimately produce more useful, practical men ? 

After all, it must be admitted, that Middlebury College labored 
long, under the disadvantages of a course of study and instruction, 
too circumscribed ; with a corps of officers too small, and means of 
improvement and instruments of illustration too limited. At least, 
there were in it no sinecure offices, nor any unemployed and useless 
apparatus. All were put in requisition, and urged forward in the 
service, under continual high pressure. And still much was neces- 
sarily left to invention and enterprise, in order to stimulate the 
first pupils to lofty aspirations and high efforts of self-culture. Nor 
has the institution, at any period of its history been so enriched, 
and so amply furnished with instructors, as to create a spirit of in- 
dolence in teachers or pupils. To meet the demand, made on their 
time and talents, to secure the high objects of the institution, un- 
der all the disadvantages of their limited means and sometimes 
pressing difficulties ; to keep along with the spirit and requisitions of 
the age, they were obliged to labor to the full extent of their strength. 
And thus by great labor and continual effort, the object of the in- 
stitution has, in a good degree, been secured. Yes, under its hap- 
py organization, and the persevering efforts thus put forth, it has 
been highly prospered. For as will be shown in the sequel, this 
College has produced its full proportion of eminent scholars, of 
vigorous minds, of active, useful men, in the several professions and 
various departments of life. 

Before illustration and proof of this statement is attempted, how- 
ever, it should be further remarked, that Middlebury College came 
into existence, not only under the counsels of the wisest men of 
the time, and with the general sympathy and favor of the commu- 
nity ; but with the special encouragement and prayers of the 
church and the ministry — prayers not of a party, not of a sect of 
separatists ; but of the pious and enlightened of all sects, of all who 
loved the cause of Zion. Accordingly, when we come to look at 
the results of its operations, we shall discover that the fruits of its 
labors, and the blessings poured upon it, and through its instrumen- 
tality upon the church, have been confined to no sect or denomina- 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 31 



tion of the christian community. On the contrary, we shall see 
that it has furnished some of the ablest and best ministers for most 
of the Evangelical denominations in the country — for the Episco- 
palians, for the Congregationists, for the Baptists, for the Presby- 
terians, for the Methodists. Thus we shall see. that all have been 
refreshed under its influence, as often as the times of refreshing 
have come upon it from the presence of the Lord. It would be 
easy to adduce particular examples, illustrative of this statement ; 
and name, among the Alumni of the College, prominent ministers 
of all these denominations. But most of them are still living, and 
some of them present. Propriety, therefore, will not permit me to 
proceed farther in the illustration. 

I have but one additional general remark to make, in illustrating 
the subject of " the relation of the College to the religious inter- 
ests of Society " ; and that grows out of the remark just made, 
and is intimately connected with it. It is this : Middlebury 
College commenced its career, and rose rapidly to a condition of 
respectability and usefulness, under the special blessing of Heaven. 
It not only, as we have said, had the sympathies of the community, 
the counsels of the wise, and the prayers of the pious, in its favor; 
but these sympathies were effectually called into exercise, these 
counsels were well matured and faithfully applied ; and these pray- 
ers were heard and answered in mercy. No literary institution in 
the land has been blessed with more frequent, more pure, more re- 
freshing revivals of religion ; revivals, which sanctified much of the 
talent brought within its halls ; sent abroad into the vineyard of 
the Lord, many efficient laborers, and diffused a purifying influence 
over the character of many distinguished laymen, and thus over 
society at large.* 

With these preliminary observations and remarks of illustration 
in view, look now, for a moment at the result of fifty years' opera- 
tions of Middlebury College ; look at the fruits, produced by the 
counsels of the board of trust and superintendence, the benefac- 
tions of the patrons, and the labors of the officers of instruction and 
government ; and then say, has the College existed in vain ? has it 
not accomplished a work, which the community, the church, the 

*See Note, E. 



MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



world needed, and claimed at its hand ; and by which they have all 
been greatly benefitted ?— Open, with me, the last Triennial Cata- 
logue ; and see how many distinguished scholars and efficient men 
are enrolled among the graduates ; how many have labored and are 
now actively and successfully laboring, to promote the religious in- 
terests and the general welfare of society ; some at home and some 
abroad ; some in the church and some in the councils of the state 
and nation ; some on the broad fields of Domestic Missions, and 
some among the far distant Heathen ! 

The whole number of graduates, according to the Triennial Cat- 
alogue of 1850, just published, is 876. Of these 397 are, or have 
been Ministers of the Gospel ; 24 Foreign Missionaries, and a far 
greater number Domestic Missionaries, or ministers performing the 
appropriate work of Missionaries in the new settlements and remote 
regions of our own country. Of the Alumni, who are laboring, or 
have labored, exclusively in the field of education, there are 10 
Presidents of Colleges, 40 Professors in high literary and Theologi- 
cal Institutions, and a great number acting as instructors of youth, 
in seminaries of humbler name, but often of equal importance to so- 
ciety. Of those graduates of the College, who have been called 
to serve their country in civil office, we may reckon 11 members of 
Congress, four Governors of States, and six Judges of Superior 
Courts ; and to these we might add many others, who by their wise 
counsels, patriotic action, and salutary influence, have served, or 
are now actively and efficiently serving their generation, in differ- 
ent professions and various pursuits of life. But I need not pro- 
ceed with these statistics ; and I cannot proceed farther without 
those personal allusions and specific descriptions, which delicacy and 
propriety forbid, since most of the Alumni of the College are 
still living. 

But while I avoid speaking of the living individually, and by name, 
and leave the character of the deceased among the officers and 
Alumni of the College, to be delineated by the hand of another, I 
cannot forbear to name some of the deceased Benefactors of the 
institution, whose liberal donations should be held in grateful re- 
membrance, through all succeeding ages. Among them, I may 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 33 



name, Painter, Burr and Hunt ; Storrs, Warren, Miller and Chip- 
man ; and, perhaps, I ought to name others, whose donations, though 
not so large, were generous and highly beneficial. Perhaps, too, I 
ought to name other distinguished friends of the College, who by 
their wise counsels, warm sympathies and ardent prayers, did what 
they could, to promote its best interests. But the list of names 
would be too long for this place. For what is omitted here, there- 
fore, I must refer you to your own recollections, and to the yet un- 
written history of the College. 

Having thus spoken of the origin, character and progress of Mid- 
dlebury College, I hope I have succeeded in my humble attempt 
to show its " relation to the religious interests of society " ; to bring 
to view something of the beneficial influence, which it has exerted 
on these great interests. And in doing this, I hope moreover, that 
I have not failed to show the importance of its being still sustained 
and cherished for the benefit of the present and future generations. 
While, however, I have briefly traced its history and operations, 
and attempted to exhibit some of the evidences of its utility and 
general prosperity, I have not forgotten, nor would I wish to con- 
ceal the fact, that it has sometimes seen dark days, and for a sea- 
son been enfeebled in strength, and restricted in its operations. 
Like all similar institutions in their incipient movements, in a new 
and sparsely settled country, it has been obliged to contend with 
much, which was calculated to retard its progress, and occasionally 
to depress the spirit of enterprise, in its most ardent and attached 
friends. 

Time was, when Harvard University, the mother of all our Col- 
leges, rich in funds as she now is, and ample as her means of in- 
struction have become, was obliged to depend in part, for the sup- 
port of her little band of officers and instructors, on the annual 
contribution of wheat, collected by the bushel or the peck from the 
scattered, log-constructed granaries of Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut. And in our time, how are all our Western literary institu- 
tions obliged to beg and strive, in order to preserve their existence, 
and maintain their position of usefulness and salutary influence on 
the churches and the community, in those newly settled regions of 

5 



34 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



our country ! It is not strange, therefore, that we find, in the his- 
tory of Middlebury College, evidence of her being subject to the 
same law of progress and retardation. She has, indeed, been com- 
pelled to struggle hard, and beg stoutly ; and, sometimes, notwith- 
standing all her efforts and general success, she has been thrown 
back in her course, and has seemed to be in danger of sinking un- 
der the weight that oppressed her, and the disappointments which 
came over her. Two such seasons of trial fell within my own ob- 
servation; one at the commencement, and the other at the close of 
my official connection with the College. 

When I entered on the duties of the office, assigned me in the 
institution, in the year 1818 ; or rather soon after, I discovered to 
my great disappointment* (not to say, fearful apprehension,) that, 
with a large debt [of nearly $20,000] hanging over her head, she 
had no available^ funds, to enable her to meet her liabilities,* nor any 
resources, on which her officers could rely for support, but public 
charity, and a meagre income, derived from the tuition of a small, 
and an apparently diminishing, number of students. It was a 
dark hour for the College ; at least, Bo'it seemed to me. For, in 
connexion with the discouragement arising from deficiency of funds, 
the institution was suffering a loss of the confidence and attachment 
of the public, by^a sudden and unexpected change of some of its 
officers of instruction and government — the removal of those, who 
had been tried and approved, and 'the introduction of those, who 
were comparatively unknown and yet to be proved. One highly 
valuable and popular young professor had been recently cut down 
by death ; and another experienced officer, who at the head of the 
institution had enjoyed the highest confidence of the community, 
and been able to exert an influence which rarely falls to the lot of 
any man, had been unexpectedly called, to take charge of another 
institution. These changes, with other causes, operated to produce 
a general feeling of discouragement in the community, which noth- 
ing but time and patience and persevering effort on the part of the 
officers and attached friends of the institution, could overcome. 
But by these, under the smiles of Providence, it was overcome ; 

*See Note, P. 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 35 



and the College was restored to its former high standing among the 
best literary institutions of our country. 

Again, about the time of my resignation, in the year 1839, 
" there was darkness in the land " ; yes, and to those, who were 
near, that darkness was seen ; and by those, who possessed a keen 
sensibility, it might, like that, of Egypt, be felt. About that time, 
as in the former case, there was by death and resignation a general 
change, in rapid succession, of the officers of instruction. And, 
however able and faithful the new officers were, they could not, at 
once, obtain the confidence^of the community, in which they were 
strangers, and to whose views and habits they were not accustomed. 
Of course, discouragement returned, and depression followed. And 
the frequent changes in the Faculty, since that period, have, in my 
apprehension, served to continue the depression. But, as time and 
effort dissipated the former darkness, so, we doubt not, they will 
again restore light aud prosperity. Yes ; already the dawn of that 
expected day begins to appear. Under the administration of the 
officers, who now constitute the Faculty of the College, born, as 
most of them were by her side, cherished by her fostering care, ac- 
quainted with the views and feelings of the surrounding communi- 
ty, and ardently attached to her interests, they need not fear con- 
cerning her returning prosperity and ultimate success. Let them 
hold on, and hold out ; let the Alumni come to the rescue, and 
spread over their venerated Alma Mater a shield of protection ; 
let the appointed guardians of her interests pursue an even course 
and manifest a liberal spirit, and a watchful care ; let appeals be 
made to men of public spirit and known generosity ; above all, let 
the College be contemplated as a nursery of the church, and re- 
ceive the sympathies and prayers of the church ; — let this be done, 
and we may rely on the blessing of Heaven, for the growth and 
and prosperity and future blessed influence of the beloved institu^ 
t'ltion. 

Thus I bring to a close my remarks on " the relation of the Col- 
lege to the religious interests of society." In tracing Lhe history 
of the institution, and especially in passing over that portion of it, 
with which I was most intimately connected, I have seen many 



36 MIDDLEBUKY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

things to regret, and felt much of misgiving. But of these, I must 
not here speak. I have, too, called to mind many scenes and oc- 
currences of delightful remembrance. But these I will not now 
recount. If I have already, said too much concerning myself, my 
apology is, that it is the acknowledged privilege of age, to mingle 
self with all its retrospective thoughts and views ; and speak of self 
in all its narratives of the past. Even the superannuated soldier is 
heard with patience, while he tells the oft repeated story of his 
youthful exploits ; " Shoulders his crutch, and fights his battles 
o'er." 

If after all there is blame to be attached to the course of re- 
mark, which I have pursued, it should, in candor, be attributed to 
the subject assigned to me for discussion ; a subject, calling to mind 
so many scenes and events, in which I was most deeply interested : 

Et quorum pars magna fui, — 

or rather, I may refer it back to those who called me here, and 
placed me in this trying position ; and say to them, in language 
sanctioned by high authority : " If I have gloried, ye have com- 
pelled me." 

I have done. I have spoken my last speech ; I have finished my 
last work in Middlebury — in Vermont. Soon, I must leave these 
pleasant scenes forever. In a few days, I must depart, never to 
return to this interesting spot, where I spent almost twenty-two 
years of the most vigorous and active portion of life; where I was 
permitted to aid in forming the minds and characters of nearly 
three-fifths of the Alumni of the College ; where I enjoyed the 
friendship of most of the inhabitants of the place and of the sur- 
rounding region ; where, I may add without boasting, I labored 
much ; and, I hope, not without some benefit, not only to the Col- 
lege, but to the community, and to the churches planted in this 
portion of our beloved country ; where I leave many living friends, 
and monuments of some, who " rest from their labors." I go ; 
probably, to return no more. I go home, to my native State — I 
wa3 about to say — to die and be buried with my fathers; but I 
should rather say, to finish the work given trie to do on the earth — 
to labor, with what of strength remains, m the vineyard of the 



=n 



ADDRESS OF DR. BATES. 



37 



Lord — to work, while the day lasts, and wait patiently, till my 
change come. Yes, friends, to labor ; for I hold, that labor is the 
mission of man on earth ; and especially of those, who are called 
and consecrated to the work of the ministry, while they are able 
to speak a word in their Master's cause, even if it is only to say, 
with the aged and beloved apostle : " Little children, love one 
another." 

I go. Farewell ! Thou beloved College, to thee I again say, 
farewell ! Farewell, thou pleasant stream, so often crossed at ear- 
ly dawn and even tide ; farewell, till thy waters shall cease to flow ! 
Farewell, ye mountains Green, so often viewed with sublime emo- 
tion, as " the work of an Almighty hand ;" farewell, till your base 
of primitive rock shall melt with the fervent heat of the last day ! 
Farewell, ye monuments of departed friends — of the pious dead ; 
farewell, till the trumpet shall sound, and they, " who sleep in Je- 
sus, shall rise to glory, honor and immortality " ! Farewell, Alum- 
ni of the College ; former beloved pupils, farewell ! Neighbors and 
friends all, farewell, till we meet at the judgment seat of Christ. 
Farewell ! 



38 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



NOTES. 



Note, A. 

Page 27. — In most cases, where such experiments have been made, there has 
been, as sound philosophy had predicted there would be, a complete failure ; and 
those institutions, which suffered them to be made under the sanction of iheir 
authority, have generally found it necessary to return to their former.course of uni- 
form requisition and thorough discipline. Tndeed, we hazard little, when we pro- 
nounce chimerical, all such schemes of education as leave boys to study what they 
please and when, they please — to choose their course and spend their time,as whim 
and inclination dictate. You cannot have a German University on American 
ground, unless you import with it the German Gymnasium — unless you place by 
its side a preparatory classical school, of sufficient elevation of character, and re- 
quiring sufficient time and close study, to discipline the youthful mind and give it 
power to discriminate and a habit of application. The immature minds of most 
of the youth, who enrer our American Colleges at the age of 14 or 16 years, are 
incapable of judging what course of study, or what mode of acquiring knowledge 
will best qualify them for the high pursuits of professional and active life. Their 
course must, therefore, be marked out for them, and they must be induced to pur- 
sue it, till their minds are disciplined by long and laborious study, under the appli- 
ances of wise laws and rigid rules. "Without this preparatory discipline, no one is 
qualified to choose his own lecturers, or books, or hours and manner of study. 

Note, B. 

Page 28. — I have no objection to Cousin's attempt to introduce a new class of 
ideas into Locke's grand division of the phenomena of mind. For, it must be ad- 
mitted, that neither sensation, nor reflection, nor both combined seem well to account 
for the origin of some of the ideas, included in his two great classes. Thus (to 
give a single example) when by touch, or rather by touch and sight, mutually aid- 
ing each other, we perceive a body, or the properties, which united go to constitute 
our notion of body; the idea of the space which that body occupies, arises in the 
mind spontaneously, immediately and necessarily, in connexion with that of the 
body itself. "Now strictly speaking this is not a perception nor is it the result of 
reflection. It may, therefore, without impropriety, be said to be " the logical con- 
dition " of the idea of body perceived ; and however close the connexion between 
the two ideas, that of space is certainly the related, and not the positive and abso. 
lute idea. Still, I think, a better phraseology might bo used, in correcting Locke's 



ADDRESS OF DR. DATES. 89 

nomenclature, and guarding against the perversion and abuse of his theory, than 
that adopted by Cousin. This new class of ideas, if we retain the indefinite and 
unfortunate term idea, derived from the Peripatetic philosophy, might better be 
denominated implied or involved ideas] and then instead of the two classes of ideas 
in Locke's grand division, we should have three, distinctly marked. 

I am not, however, tenacious of any particular mode of analysis or theory of 
classification ; provided we can secure the thing — a thorough analysis and an easy 
and natural classification, instead of assumed entities and relations, and unnat- 
ural arrangements, founded on presumptuous claims to apperception^ and expressed 
in indefinite and incomprehensible language. 

I must add, that Cousin's strictures on Locke's classification of the mental phe- 
nomena, by no means do him justice. Indeed he seems to have been inadvertent- 
ly influenced, in his criticisms, by the prejudice of education, combined perhaps 
with an imperfect knowledge of the English language. If he studied iC The Essay 
on the Human Understanding;' as translated into French, he must, of course, have 
found it modified by the theory of perception, which pervaded the French philos- 
ophy of that and the preceding age. And even if he read the treatise of Locke in 
the original English, he must have read it, under the influence and with the bias 
of a French education. He had probably first read Condillac or some other phi- 
losopher of the same school, who represented Locke to be a mere sensationalist — 
who considered the class of ideas, which he denominated ideas of reflection, as 
nothing more than sensation revived, or transformed perceptions ; and hence ap- 
pealed to his authority, to sanction the material system of French philosophy. 

After all, much assistance in the study of Philosophy may be derived from the 
perusal of "Cousin's Elements," &c, by those students, who have first thoroughly 
read Locke and other philosophers of the analytical school. For his rules of phi- 
losophical invesiigation are altogether conservative* He seems, indeed, to have 
intended to admit nothing without the sanction of observation, or deduction from 
that which had been observed by the senses or the exercise of consciousness. Still 
no novice in the science of mind — no one, who has never studied the great masters 
of analytical philosophy, can read Cousin, without danger of having his head 
turned and his heart puffed up with vanity, and his tongue trained to the use of 
"great swelling words" of nonsense. For notwithstanding the conservative rules 
laid down at the commencement of his work, Cousin seems soon to have forgot- 
ten them ; and forsaking the proper field of Psj'chological investigation, to have 
caught the the spirit of romance and plunged deep into the regions of ontology and 
" mere metaphysics." Accordingly in the latter portions of his book, will be found 
such speculations, conjectures and assumptions, as are calculated to lead, and will 
generally lead, light minds and '* unstable souls " into the dark regions of Trans- 
cendentalism and bewilder them in the fatal labyrinth of Pantheism. — Let no such 
guide be trusted! 

Note, C. 

Page 28. — Perhaps it may be thought that Leibnitz ought not to be ranked with 
Berkeley, as a mere idealist. But although he did admit the existence of matter, 
as a proper object for the action of the senses; yet, in his theory of perception, he 



40 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

so completely destroyed the agency of the latter and the use of the former, as to 
render both a mere incumbrance to the perceiving mind and disconnected spirit ; 
and thus he placed himself in the same category •with Berkeley. As to all prac- 
tical purposes, their doctrines were the same, leading to the same sceptical results. 

Note, D. 

Page 28. — It would not be difficult to find examples of the pernicious influence 
of these extremes in philosophical speculation on Christian faith, as well as on 
political action and the relations of social life. Examples illustrative of the ten- 
dency of one extreme may be found in the writings of Priestly and Wakefield 
and Fellows, and their disciples in this country, during the first quarter of the 
passing century ; and of the other, in the recent publications of such rash, presump- 
tuous, (may I not add, without a breach of candor?) reckless writers, as Carlyle 
and Emerson and Parker, and many others^ not far behind them, in their devious 
course toward pantheism and absolute infidelity ; who are like Solomon's madman 
scattering arrows, firebrands and death, and crying " am I not in sport ;" who are 
confounding language, corrupting literature, degrading philosophy, and even vili- 
fying the inspired records of religion ; and thus bewildering and destroying thou- 
sands of the giddy and thoughtless youth of the present generation. — But I forbear. 

Note, E. 

Page 31. — A brief history of most of these revivals, prepared with all the ad- 
vantages of my own recollections and the collected rerainisicences of friends, was 
published in " the American Quarterly Register, and Journal of the American Ed- 
ucation Society," for Feb. 1, 1840. From this history, it appears that there were 
ten distinctly marked revivals in Middlebury College, during the first forty years 
of its existence; and that one class only had passed through the institution, with- 
out participating in the blessings of such a " season of refreshing from the pres- 
ence of the Lord." 

Note, F. 

Page 34. — This disappointment arose principally from the failure of the pay- 
ment of a large, and as I had supposed bona fide subscription, which had just been 
made for the benefit of the funds of the College.— This failure, with a long and 
tedious process of law in establishing the title of the institution and vindicating its 
claim to the lands, given by Gen. Hunt, was enough to produce a feeling of dis- 
couragement; and it would probably have led to despair, had not the noble bequest 
of Judge Painter furnished timely aid and given efficient support to the then feeble 
institution. 



COMMEMORATIVE NOTICES 



OF 



DECEASED ALUMNI 



OF 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 



AN 



ADDRESS 

Delivered August 22, 1850, 



BY 



S 
REV. JOHN HOUGH, D. D. 

FORMERLY PROFESSOR IN THE COLLEGE. 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 43 



ADDRESS 



BY 



REV. J0HN1H0UGH, D. D. 



It is rekted of Cornelia, the celebrated mother of the Gracchi, 
that, being asked by a friend for a sight of the ornaments of her 
person, she deferred her compliance with the request, till her sons 
returned from their attendance on their instructor, ■when, present- 
ing them, she said : " Behold my jewels." These she regarded as 
her most splendid decorations ; these she esteemed her brightest 
glory. Like the Roman mother, an Institution of learning may 
well look upon her Alumni, whose minds, within her walls, have 
been stored with knowledge, whose understandings have been taught 
to think and to judge, and whose hearts have been trained to the 
love of truth and goodness, and who have thus been prepared for 
efficient and successful efforts for the glory of God and the happi- 
ness of man, as her truest and her highest honor. To such she 
may justly point, as the best vouchers for the validity of her claims 
to admiration and gratitude, confidence and love. 

When we review the Catalogue, in which the names of those, 
who have gone forth from this Seminary, are enrolled, we find a- 
mong them many, who would do honor to any of our literary insti- 
tutions, and whom any of the Colleges of the country might be 
proud to number among its Alumni. Those are to be found regis- 
tered there, who have secured to themselves an enviable distinction 
in every field of exertion, in the halls of learning, in the pulpit, in 
the Senate and at the bar. If I were at liberty to bring forward 
alike the living and the dead, I might present an array of names, 



44 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

long and brilliant, and one which would decisively elfnce, that this 
Institution is entitled to hold no inferior place among the younger 
Colleges of the land. But, reasons, which must suggest themselves 
to every mind, have restricted my attention to those who have pass- 
ed from among us, and who are deaf alike to the voice of praise 
and of blame. 

Of the departed, there are some, whose career was closed, just 
as the race of life was begun ; or whose sun went down, even be- 
fore the active labors of the day had been commenced. Of the 
others, some are to be found, who passed through life in obscurity, 
either from a deficiency of talents and learning, or an indisposition 
to exertion ; putting forth no efforts and wielding no influence to 
make themselves felt and remembered in the communities, where 
they pursued " the noiseless tenor of their way." Of others still, 
who occupied reputable positions in society, and enjoyed the respect 
and esteem of those, by whom they were known, little more could 
be said, than that, though they were men valued for their intellec- 
tual and moral worth, and for their beneficial services, they are yet- 
entitled to no commendation above that, due to those possessing on- 
ly a fair mediocrity of talents and attainments and usefulness. Let 
me not, I here interpose the caution, be regarded as pouring con- 
tempt upon the characters and offering an insult to the memory of 
any. What I affirm is true of the mass of men, and even of edu- 
cated men too ; for while one rises to eminence and secures distinc- 
tion ; what numbers remain unknown and unnoticed, unhonored and 
unpraised ? Of others there are some, of whom I knew and have 
been able to learn absolutely nothing, or nothing distinctive ; so 
that in any notice, which 1 might take of them, I could do little 
more, than occupy your time with a repetition of names. 

It will not be expected, on an occasion like this, that I should 
bring before you the young, who, though in them the capacity and 
the promise of excellence and distinction were crushed and fond 
hopes of success and usefulness were blighted, were denied the op- 
portunity of making the achievements and winning the honors, 
which, had a more extended period for exertion been enjoyed, they 
might have secured. Nor will it be regarded as my duty, to draw 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 45 

from their obscurity those, who from incapacity, or inclination, 
have lived and died unknown to the world. Neither can it be an- 
ticipated, that, when men of a higher order of intellect and of su- 
perior attainments, and who have exerted a more powerful influence 
and secured a brighter reputation, claim my attention, I should make 
those the subjects of notice and eulogy, who have not risen above 
a respectable mediocrity, as to their standing and character. iSor, 
when there are those, of whom I have adequate information, can 
it be looked for by any, that I consume the time allotted me, in 
naming those, of whom I know nothing prominent and peculiar. If, 
then, any of the Alumni of the College shall be passed over by me 
in silence, it may be accounted for on the ground, that, in my judg- 
ment, they had their places assigned them, in one or the other of 
these classes. 

I am aware of the delicacy and difficulty of my position and du- 
ty ; and while I claim the indulgence of having it believed, that I 
act in reference to to this subject, with an unbiassed impartiality 
and with an entire readiness to do equal justice to all, I pretend to 
no exemption from a liability to mistake. It may, however, he the 
fact, that I may sometimes bring before you an individual, not su- 
perior to others in intellect or scholarship, when circumstances have 
placed him in a situation to accomplish what others have not achieved, 
and to secure a standing in the public estimation, which others have 
not reached. After passing by those, comprised in the several 
classes, which I have named, it will still be necessary to take but a 
brief notice of many individuals, who are entitled to commemora- 
tion on an occasion like this, that I may secure time for a fuller ex- 
hibition of the characters and achievements of those whose talents 
and success render them objects of peculiar regard. 

Before I proceed to fulfil the purpose of this address. I will di- 
rect your minds to a class of those, who have gone forth from this 
Institution, who shall be nameless, and to whom memory reverts 
with feelings of humiliation and sorrow ; to a class, who, if other 
ts of sobriety and diligence and effort had marked their career, 
might be living now, honored, beloved and useful, or, if removed, 
m ight be followed, not without regret indeed, but with regret, min- 



46 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

gled with pride and exultation. ^ I refer to some who have fallen 
victims to the intoxicating cup. 

I might point you to one, a man of fine person and graceful man- 
ners, and holding a place among the most distinguished for their 
talents and attainments at the bar, at which he practised, and rank- 
ing so high in their estimation, as to be selected by a portion of his 
fellow-citizens as their candidate to represent them in the National 
Legislature, in whom all, character, property, domestic happiness 
and life itself, fell a sacrifice to this fatal vice. — I might direct you 
to another, who left College distinguished by the most honorable ap- 
pointment, who possessed talents, which, with a diligent and perse- 
vering application, might have placed him on an equality with any 
competitor at the bar, either as a lawyer, or an advocate, and who, 
as an able and interesting debater, has been scarcely, if at all, sur- 
passed in the Legislature of this State. But, all he was and all 
he might have been, was surrendered to the indulgence of a deba- 
sing and ruinous appetite. — I might bring before you another, who 
stood preeminent for his ready elocution, and who, as a jurist and a 
pleader, might easily have attained a place by the side, if not ahead 
of every rival, for the amusements of the fishing rod and the fowl- 
ing-piece, and the gratification, attendant on the intoxicating draught, 
gave up success, distinction and usefulness, and fills an unhonored 
grave. — To other cases might I point you, alike deplorable and fa- 
tal. In one, a young man, not distinguished by unusual powers of 
intellect ; but favored with preeminent advantages for qualifying 
himself for the duties of life, and enjoying ample means of making 
himself respected, beloved and useful, reduced by his irregularities 
to poverty, becomes an exile from friends and home, and dies, a 
houseless wanderer in a distant city. — In another, I could present 
before you one of the clearest heads and soundest scholars in the 
class, of which he was a member, failing to meet the anticipations 
of his friends and sinking lower and lower, till at length, and at an 
early period of life, rendered, for the moment, helpless by intoxica- 
tion, he perishes in the public highway, under the inclemency of a 
November storm of sleet and rain. — And these are not all the in- 
stanc es which I could bring before you, to warn you against all ap- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 47 

proach towards the vice of vices, to which they fell victims, and a- 
gainst a fate, so inglorious and so melancholy. Indeed, there is 
reason to apprehend that some of those, whom I shall have occasion 
to exhibit, as having stood highest in the public estimation and 
done, in some points of view, most honor to the College, by failing 
to act on strictly temperance principles and to maintain thoroughly 
temperance habits, sullied 'their characters, impaired their useful- 
ness, and shortened their lives, and thus, perhaps, inflicted calami- 
ty upon the country and the world. — I deem it not unfitting in it- 
self and not incongruous with the deep interest and solemnity of 
this occasion to say, that, if there is any lesson, which the review 
of those who have gone forth from this College, which I have been 
called to take, teaches with a clearness, which must carry convic- 
tion to every mind, and with an energy, which should touch the 
hearts and control the lives of all, it is the stern necessity and the 
momentous importance of abjuring forever every intoxicating bev- 
erage. I would, then, in view of the sad instances which I have 
laid before you, so full of warning, urge upon all the adoption of 
strictly temperance principles and an adherence to strictly temper- 
ance habits, with a tenacity and firmness, from which neither exam- 
ple nor influence, neither reasoning nor persuasion and neither ap- 
petite nor interest shall ever cause you to swerve. Such principles 
and habits give the only certain assurance of safety to any, and 
they are the only sure preventive of other instances of ruin, utter 
and woful, as those, to which I have directed your minds. On our 
being decidedly and fully the votaries of temperance is staked all, 
which should be dear to us, as individuals and precious in view of 
the various relations of life, property, honor, usefulness and happi- 
ness ; and the more high and awful interests of eternity. — I deem 
it proper, however, here to say, let no one suspect me of the design 
or the wish to load with suspicion, or reproach the graduates of this 
Institution. I am far from entertaining the opinion that they have 
been preeminently chargeable with the vice of intemperance, or that 
among them the instances of ruin have been more numerous and pit- 
iable, than elsewhere. Take the catalogue of any of the Colleges 
of our country, and where, in the list of names registered there, 



48 MIDBLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



you find one, lost to friends, the world and himself, affix a kfoen ; 
and in reviewing the lapse of half a century, how many sorrowful 
mementos of blighted hopes, of ruined powers, of wruag and bro- 
ken hearts, and of desolation and woe, will meet your eye ? 

The first name, which the catalogue presents, to which I would 
call your attention, is that of the Rev. Walter Chapin, of the 
class which graduated in 1803. He was for many years the re- 
spected and useful Pastor of the Congregational Church hi Wood- 
stock, where, in 1826, when he had scarcely passed the prime of life, 
he died of a decline. He was the first graduate of the College, who 
held the office of Tutor in the Institution ; and the second, who was 
chosen a member of the Board of Trust. His talents were not im- 
posing and suited to win popular favor ; but he possessed a sound 
and discriminating mind, and very creditable attainments as a schol- 
ar. He had a peculiarly benignant spirit, and quite a vein of 
pleasantry, which, however, never sunk to frivolity, or verged to- 
wards indecorum. I know of no publication of his, but the " Mis- 
sionary Gazetteer"; a work not demanding a high order of intellect; 
but requiring extensive reading and research in a particular field, 
and calling for judgment and the power of condensation, in order 
to be able to comprise the largest amount of matter within the nar- 
rowest compass. The work was regarded as satisfactory, in the 
manner of its execution ; and at a time, when the missionary enter- 
prise was beginning to attract a new degree of regard, leading to 
the high interest which it now awakens in the public mind, it was 
adapted to meet a want, which religious readers would largely feel, 
a concise and easily accessible account of the various fields of mis- 
sionary effort. 

The next individual, whom I would bring before you, is Timothy 
Harbis, of the class of 1805. He was the son of pious parents. 
When less than two years old, he was visited with a sickness, so 
severe, that for weeks, scarcely the faintest hope was indulged, that 
he would live. In this extremity, his mother was led to devote him 
anew to God and to engage, if he were spared, to train him to serve 
Him in the Gospel of his Son. Though religiously educated and 
often the subject of concern, as to his duty and salvation, he re- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 49 



maiaed amidst the advantages, enjoyed under his father's roof, and 
when preparing for College, and afterwards when a member of this 
Seminary, a stranger to the grace of life ; and he graduated with a 
character, adverse to the cherished hope of his parents, that he 
would become a herald of Salvation. But, a few weeks brought 
more cheering anticipations. In answer to their prayers and those 
of his intimate friends, and through the blessings of God upon their 
efforts, he became hopefully a new creature in Christ ; and was pre- 
pared to enter on a course of study, with reference to the sacred of- 
fice. By an indiscreet exposure, the result of which was a severe 
cold, which came near terminating in a consumption, his studies, 
while a member of College, were interrupted for months. This oc- 
currence, with the necessity of teaching, to which he was subjected, 
must have interfered seriously with his attainments as a scholar. 
Yet he graduated, it is stated, with the first honor of his class. 

Having directed his attention to the West, as the field of his 
labors, he was early led to visit Granville, Ohio ; and, as the result, 
became the first Pastor of the church there, when the settlement 
was in its infancy, and the church was few in number, and feeble 
in its resources. He was an upright, a faithful and zealous preach- 
er. He was eminently a man of prayer. As an indication of his 
nice moral sense, his scrupulous adherence to truth may be 
mentioned. A. man, not liable to the suspicion of partiality, 
said of him, " Mr. Harris is the only man in the world, who can 
tell a story without adding to it," " His prayers," said one, who 
had long united in the worship of his family, and he said it with a 
strong emphasis, " His prayers are rich." Said a minister, after 
joining in his morning devotions, " The people can well afford to sup- 
port such a man, for the prayers which he offers in their behalf." 
Such was the caution which he practised in receiving members to 
the communion of the church, that, of the 150, whom he admitted, 
while the church was rising from 20 to 120, he saw bfit one re- 
moved by a course of discipline. The exposures, to which he was 
liable in a new country, the many labors, to which he was called, 
and the privations, to which he was subjected, [privations, of which 
many of us never even dreamed,] broke down a constitution, at no 



50 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



time robust ; and after a ministry of fourteen years, and languish- 
ing in a decline, for three or four years longer, he sunk into the 
grave. But he lived not in vain. By his labors, under God, a 
church, in its infancy when he took charge of it, attained, during 
his ministry, a vigorous manhood ; and is now the largest and most 
efficient church in a country township, in a State numbering its two 
millions of inhabitants. And he yet lives in the virtues and the 
affectionate remembrance of those, whom he was the instrument, in 
God's hand, of turning to piety, and of training for usefulness and 
heaven. 

Of Chester Wright, also of the class of 1805, I know but few 
facts, adapted to be brought forward, to aid us in forming an esti- 
mate of his character. He possessed a discriminating and vigorous 
understanding ; and was unquestionably one of the most accurate 
and thorough scholars in the class, to which he belonged. After 
leaving College, he was, for some time, the Instructor of Addison 
County Grammar School. The next station in which I find him, is 
that of Pastor of the Congregational Church in Montpelier. Here 
he remained many years, enjoying the respect, confidence and love 
of his people and others ; and useful and happy in the work, to 
which he had devoted his life. He ranked among the ablest preach- 
ers in the State, clear in his conceptions, energetic in his style, and 
impressive in his address, beyond what is common. He was a firm 
adherent of the truth, ardent in his religious affections, and distin- 
guished by a tried and uncompromising integrity. Indeed, I have 
the persuasion, that the termination of his ministry at Montpelier 
had its origin in difficulties, arising from his inflexible adherence to 
what he regarded as right. He was characterized by great purity 
of intention and motive ; and he possessed a heart, warm with an 
expanded benevolence. This was decisively evinced, by his plans 
of usefulness ; one of which was rendered abortive, in part at least, 
by the meddlesome interference of some, who will not consent, that 
good should be done, unless in their own way, and by their own ad- 
herents and partizans. From Montpelier Mr. Wright removed to 
Hardwick, where, after a tranquil and, I doubt not, useful ministry 
of several years' duration, in 1840, he ceased from his labors and 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 51 

went, none can doubt, to his reward. — Mr. Wright was the first 
graduate of the College, who was chosen a member of the Corpo- 
ration. At an early day, he published one book, if not more, for 
schools ; and he gave to the public, several sermons from the press. 
But I have no copies of them, and my recollection is not full and 
definite enough, to authorise me to express an opinion of their mer- 
its. But, this I can say of their author, and with it I close my re- 
marks concerning him, that rarely have I known a man possessing 
a larger measure of the puritan spirit, and of puritan excellence, 
than Chester Wright. 

Of William Andrews, who graduated in 1806, my opinion has 
always been, that he possessed a superior mind, and was distin- 
guished as a scholar. But, his precise position in his class, I am 
unable to indicate. He was for many years, the pastor of the Con- 
gregational church in Windham, Conn. In opposition to the strong 
wishes of very many, if not most, of his hearers, he relinquished 
his situation there, on the ground of his discouragement, arising 
from his want of success in his ministry, evincing, as he thought, 
that the ground, which he occupied, was not his appropriate field of 
labor. Among those, most decidedly adverse to his removal, was 
the celebrated Zephaniah Swift, who published a pamphlet on the 
occasion. Hence it was sarcastically remarked, that Judge Swift, 
in one case, published his pamphlet against his minister, because 
he would not leave, and in another, because he would not stay. 
From Windham, Mr. Andrews removed to Danbury, where he re- 
mained a number of years, respected and useful, till dissatisfaction, 
[arising from a case of discipline, in which his opinion was at vari- 
ance with that of many, if not a majority, of the members of the 
church,] caused the termination of his ministry. He afterwards 
became pastor of the church in Cornwall, where he died, before he 
had attained an advanced age. Both Windham and Danbury were 
among the more prominent and important places in the State, and 
could claim and enjoy the services of able ministers. And Mr. An- 
drews filled the posts, which he occupied, so far as ability and inter- 
est as a preacher were concerned, to the general, if not entire ac- 
ceptance of those, to whom he ministered. If deficient in any re- 



54 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



there a few years, during which, his labors were blessed to that com- 
munity, he returned to his former residence in Whitesborough and 
preached to the vacant churches in the vicinity, as he had oppor- 
tunity. Whitesborough, says my correspondent, during the period 
of the " new measures," as they were called, suffered less from 
their influence, than most of the churches in that region, owing to 
the fact, that Mr. Frost was too wise a man, wholly to relinquish 
his charge, to the management and trickery of such men, as guided 
and controlled the operations of the day. 

The Rev. Oliver Hulburd, also of the class of 1806, had no 
superior, if he had an equal, among his associates. His standing 
as a scholar, was evinced by his being called to deliver the Valedic- 
tory address, when he graduated, and by his subsequently receiv- 
ing the appointment of Tutor. In this office, he exhibited such at- 
tainments as a scholar, such facility and clearness in communicating 
instruction, and such a capacity for commanding the respect and 
winning the good-will of his pupils, and exerting a desirable influ- 
ence over them, that it was regarded, as an object, eminently im- 
portant, that he should be retained in permanent connection with the 
College. He was accordingly appointed in 1811, Professor of the 
Latin and Greek Languages. The ardor for improvement, which 
he felt, and the energy and diligence, with which he devoted him- 
self to preparation for his duties and to the discharge of them, with 
perhaps some constitutional tendency, ere long produced indications 
of pulmonary disease. To escape the rigors of a northern winter, 
and to secure the benefits of travel and of a milder temperature, 
he commenced, in Autumn, a journey to the Southern States ; and 
proceeded as far as Waynesborough, Ga. And this proved to be 
the field of his subsequent labors, and his last resting-place. — Early 
in the summer of 1812, to the joy of his friends and to the gratifi- 
cation of the Faculty and students of the College, he returned with 
improved health, and evincing in various respects, the advantages 
of travel and of intercourse with the world. But the hope, which 
was indulged, that his health had received essential and enduring 
advantage, was doomed to an early and grievous disappointment. 
His constitution, adapted to the genial warmth of summer, was 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 55 



found unequal to encounter the chill blasts of a northern Autumn. 
Finding his health failing, he therefore, reluctantly resigned his 
Professorship, and having received ordination, returned, late in the 
Fall, to his friends in Waynesborough, regarding it as a home high- 
ly desirable, as furnishing him with a temperature largely condu- 
cive to his health, and presenting him an inviting field of usefulness, 
as a minister of Christ. Here, though greatly respected, beloved 
and useful, he continued but a brief period. For though he escaped 
the danger of a consumption, with which he was threatened at the 
North, he fell an early victim to the autumnal fever of the South. 
He lived less than three years after his removal to Georgia. — As a 
preacher, Mr. Hulburd was characterized by neatness, simplicity 
and clearness, without any perceptible deficiency of force, in his 
style of writing ; and in his manner of speaking, he was winning, 
energetic and impressive. One, who knew him well, says : " He 
corresponded, in almost every particular, to Cowper's admired de- 
scription of God's ambassador to man." After his death, a volume 
of his sermons was printed, which, though subjected to the disad- 
vantages, inevitable in the case of a posthumous publication, evinces 
that Mr. Hulburd was not only sound in his theological views, but 
was an earnest, a devoted and a faithful preacher of the truth. 

•I have known few men, to whom, with a fuller assurance, I could 
apply the Savior's declaration, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in 
whom is no guile," than to Daniel Smith, who graduated in 1810. 
He was one of its youngest members, if not the youngest ; but he 
was undoubtedly one of the master-spirits of the class, both as to 
intellect and scholarship, especially scholarship in literary, in dis- 
tinction from scientific attainments. He possessed a discriminating 
mind, a sound judgment and a correct taste ; and all his perform- 
ances were marked by great good sense, nice views of propriety 
and an accurate finish. But, he always seemed to me, preeminent- 
ly distinguished by a guileless simplicity ; a poor encomium, per- 
haps, in the mistaken estimation of multitudes, with whom good- 
ness is lightly valued, compared with greatness. — After completing 
his course of Theological study at Andover, Mr. Smith became one 
of the pioneers, who visited the Southwestern portion of our coun- 



56 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



try, on a tour of exploration ; and for the purpose of making such 
arrangements as were practicable, to meet the moral wants of that, 
then peculiarly dark and desolate region. With him, Schermerhorn, 
Mills and perhaps others were associated in this service. As the 
result of this enterprise, with reference to himself, Mr. Smith be- 
came pastor of a church at Natchez, Miss. Here he remained a 
few years, exerting himself in a manner, which could hardly fail to 
be productive of good, and great good ; but the full measure of its 
benefits, only the final day can disclose. From Natchez he was 
transferred to Louisville, Kentucky, as the scene of his exertions. 
Here, after not an extended season of ministerial effort, his labors, 
in the maturity of his powers and the noon-day of his usefulness, 
were closed in death. But he had labored not in vain. The 
fruits of his endeavors, are still to be seen in the religious aspect of 
the community ; and he yet lives in the cherished recollections of 
those, to whom his ministry proved a savor of life unto life. 

The Rev. Eleazar S. Barrows graduated in the year 1811. 
Of the precise place, which he held in the class, as to talent and 
scholarship, whether among them only, or second of the first three, 
I am unable to say. That his position was an elevated and promi- 
nent one, is undeniable. Where he passed his time, and how he 
was employed, in study, or instruction, previous to 1815, when he 
became connected with the College, as Tutor, I am uninformed. 
On leaving this Institution, he went into the State of New York, 
and, in 1817, was invited to the office of Tutor in Hamilton Col- 
lege. So acceptable was he, as a College officer, says the gentle- 
man, to whom I am indebted for much of my information respecting 
Mr. Barrows, that he was soon afterwards invited to fill the Profes- 
sorship of the Latin Language. He was an excellent scholar, and 
an able, a faithful and vigilant instructor and disciplinarian. His 
vigilance and faithfulness were an annoyance to some of the scholars; 
and being privately encouraged by some of the principal Trustees, 
whom they consulted, they presented to the Corporation a petition 
for his removal. The only complaint, alleged against him was, that 
he was incompetent as a teacher, which I knew was totally ground- 
less; and which some of the young men, who were most active in 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 57 



the matter, have themselves also acknowledged. Statements, which 
have been laid before the public, evince, that the measures towards 
him, adopted by the Trustees, were extremely harsh and injurious. 
Almost any other man would have sunk under the treatment, meted 
out to him. But he was enabled to rise above the efforts, employed 
to crush him. 

Mr. Barrows was for several years, pastor of the church in Pom- 
pey ; and subsequently, was, for a considerable period, connected 
with the church at Cazenovia. In both places, he was greatly re- 
spected and his labors were highly useful. When the state of his 
health was such, that he could, no longer discharge the duties of a 
pastor, he removed to Utica, where he commenced and edited the 
" Christian Journal," which had an extensive and salutary influence 
in checking the wildness and extravagances, which resulted from 
the " new measures," as they were termed. He was one of the 
few men, who stood erect and breasted the tempest, which swept o- 
ver our churches. But he ever treated his opponents with the dig- 
nified courtesy and kindness of a gentleman and a christian. Af- 
ter his health became so far restored, that he could resume preach- 
ing, he was found laboring faithfully, and with most happy results, 
in vacant churches ; and was very successful in building up the 
waste places of Zion. He was an able preacher, and, in the view 
of competent judges, had not many equals in Western New York. 
In his theological sentiments, he was strictly a disciple of Edwards ; 
and he was decidedly conservative in the views and tendencies of 
his mind. He was a remarkably ready extemporaneous speaker, 
and an able debater ; and a man of great promptness and decision. 
I never saw a man presiding in the chair of an Ecclesiastical as- 
sembly, who, I thought was, in this situation, his superior. I have 
also heard several gentlemen of larger experience than myself, re- 
mark, that he was the most dignified, able and ready presiding of- 
ficer in a public body, that they had ever seen. He died at Utica, 
after a sickness of a few weeks, in July, 1847. 

No young man, within the last thirty years, has, to a greater ex- 
tent, attracted the attention of the religious public, or awakened a 

higher degree of interest, than Sylvester Earned, who graduated 

8 



58 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

in 1813. He early exhibited an unusual facility in the acquisition 
of knowledge. At the academy at Lenox, Mass., where he pre- 
pared for College, his superior talents were strikingly apparent. It 
was all one to him, says his biographer, whether he recited in one 
class, or two, or three. With each he was equally at home, and in 
each facile princeps. His singularly effective elocution was also 
very early displayed. It is said, that being at play with his 
brother, he laid a wager, that he would make him weep by talking 
to him, and that by his pathos, he soon melted him into tears. At 
the early age of thirteen, in his native town, Pittsfield, on the fourth 
of July, he delivered an oration, before a numerous audience, which 
received great applause. No slight portion of the favor awarded 
him, may have been ensured by his extreme youth. But his per- 
formance, portions of which are in print, was marked by singular 
excellence, in view of his years. 

In 1811, he came to this place, and became a member of Middle- 
bury College. Immediately on joining College, he was observed to 
attend regularly the Sabbath morning prayer-meeting, maintained 
by the pious students, and at which, but few others were usually 
present. This course awakened no little surprise, as his irregular- 
ities at Williams College, to which he had been previously attached, 
were known. But he stated, as the reasons of his course, that 
from regard for his character, and in compliance with the advice of 
his pious and excellent mother, he had resolved, on coming to Col- 
lege, to choose the pious as his associates, and to attend their de- 
votional meetings. The result was, at no distant day, a verifica- 
tion of the declaration of the holy writ : " He that walketh with 
wise men shall be wise." It was not, however, till 1812, that he 
became the subject of that spiritual renovation, which caused him 
to reverse all his purposes and plans ; and prepared him for the du- 
ty, and led him to adopt the determination, that he would make it 
the business of his life, to serve God in the gospel of his Son. The 
occasion is described, as one of peculiar and affecting interest, when 
he first avowed his faith and hope. u Imagine to yourself a youth 
of fine appearance, known to have been a leader among those, not 
controlled by religion, rising in the midst of a crowded room, 



ADDRESS OP DR. HOUGH. 59 

frankly, but modestly and meekly, avowing his regret and shame for 
the sins of his past life, his utter renunciation of them, his reliance 
by faith upon the Savior, and his purpose to devote himself to his 
service. Imagine, that you heard him in that tone of manly and 
fervid eloquence, for which he was afterwards so much distinguished, 
appeal to those around him, and urge upon them reconciliation 
to God, and finally, with humility and earnestness imploring for 
them, as well as himself, the choicest blessings of heaven, till all 
were affected to tears ; and you have before you the scene, when 
the youthful Earned first confessed Christ before men." 

As a scholar, Mr. Lamed stood deservedly high. But his taste 
led him to aim at literary, rather than scientific acquisitions ; and 
to direct his attention to rhetoric and oratorv, rather than to the 
more dry and recondite studies of logic and metaphysics. That he 
labored under no incapacity for the successful prosecution of such 
studies, none will doubt, who knew him ; and it was triumphantly 
apparent at Princeton. On a particular occasion, the Professor of 
theology desired of each member of the class, a written argument 
on an abstruse, metaphysical subject. That of Mr. Earned, pro- 
duced in a very brief period, was deemed without a flaw, and pro- 
nounced of all, the best. 

On leaving College, which he did. before he had completed his 
seventeenth year, he immediately commenced his course of theo- 
logical study, which he pursued, in part, at Andover, and in part, 
at Princeton. Of his residence at Princeton, it is said, "At this 
period, he not only added largely to his stores of theological, but 
general knowledge ; and assiduously cultivated both his intellectual 
powers and personal piety." He also engaged in many active du- 
ties, and exerted a most desirable and efficient influence over the 
young around him ; and it is believed, we are told, that, in more in- 
stances than one, he was the honored instrument of converting to 
God, those, who have been themselves preachers of the gospel. 

Mr. Larned's first appearance in the pulpit, awakened the high- 
est expectations, and left none, who heard him, in doubt of the fer- 
vor of his devotion, the force of his intellect, or the simplicity, ele- 
vation and power of his eloquence. Admiration and love attended 



60 MIDDLEEUEY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

him, churches were thronged, wherever he preached ; and the ele- 
ments of moral and intellectual greatness, so embodied in his attrac- 
tive countenance, in the intonations and compass of a voice, never 
perhaps excelled, and in an entire manner, natural, winning and 
impressive, were attended by an influence on every assembly, pow- 
erful and enduring. 

The attention of Mr. Earned was early directed to New Orleans, 
as the field of his future labors ; a field, eminently important and 
urgently needing moral culture. To this field, he consecrated him- 
self; for its welfare, he tasked his powers of intellect and heart, and 
here he laid down his life. After his purpose of visiting New Or- 
leans was adopted, no inducement could prevail with him to change 
it, or hold him back from carrying it into execution. In a letter to 

a friend, he says, " The people of , I had forgotten to tell you, 

have offered me, and I believe unanimously, any salary, if I will 
settle with them." And when he had taken his station there, no en- 
ticements could allure, and no intimidations could drive him, from his 
post. The fame of his talents and eloquence, had travelled through 
the Union, and invitation after invitation, from wealthy church- 
es, enforced by the appeals of private friendship, urged his retreat 
from the exposures of his position. But he was above selfishness, 
and a stranger to fear. Mr. Cornelius gives the following account 
of his first appearance and reception in New Orleans : " This 
morning, I had the unspeakable satisfaction of greeting Mr. Ear- 
ned, who has long been expected in this city, as one of its perma- 
nent laborers. The people were anxiously waiting. From the re- 
ports, which they had received, of that excellent young man, their 
expectations were very high ; and although I had never witnessed 
his public performances, I could not doubt the correctness of the 
opinion, which has been extensively formed of him. Though much 
fatigued, he consented to preach the Lecture this evening. Bless 
the Lord, my soul, for condescending to his church, so rich a 
blessing, as she possesses in this wonderful young man. The con- 
gregation was large and respectable ; and notwithstanding their ex- 
pectations were very high, they were far transcended. One single 
burst of approbation told at once the reception, they gave this new 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 61 

messenger. I rejoice, that, in regard to correctness of sentiment 
and elevation of piety, as well as the inimitable manner, in which 
it was delivered, the discourse was such as every calvinist and every 
real christian, must unhesitatingly approve." From this hour, the 
estimation, in which he was held, and the influence which he ex- 
erted, with the measure of his usefulness, were steadily on the in- 
crease, till the day in which he slept in death, a victim to what I 
deem, his mistaken views of duty and honor. To remove the sus- 
picion and repel the reproach, of deserting his post in the most try- 
ing hour ; and, with a cowardly and selfish regard for his own safe- 
ty, abandoning his charge, when, under the fearful visitation of the 
pestilence, most needing his aid ; he encountered peril, which pru- 
dence should have taught him to shun, and the fatal result of which 
deprived the church and the community of services, which might, 
for years, have been rich in invaluable blessings. He died on his 
birth clay, aged twenty-four years. His final hour tested the piety 
of his character, and the blessed and soul-sustaining influence of 
his religion. When aware that he was attacked by that most dead- 
ly malady, the yellow fever, he evinced no alarm. As his disease 
advanced, death had no terrors for him. And almost in the part- 
ing moment, in answer to inquiries respecting his views and his 
hope, the response was, All is ivell. The writer of a letter, which 
appeared at the time, says of Mr. Lamed : " If ever this city was 
visited by a public calamity, ever sustained a loss, which cannot be 
supplied, it is by his death. He formed a congregation and suc- 
ceeded in building a church, Where it had been despaired of, and 
had warmly attached to himself hearts, that, to ordinary attractions, 
were perfectly insensible." Says an intimate and highly intelligent 
friend, Rev. Dr. Nevins of Baltimore : "Scarcely has death ever 
stopped the beating of a warmer, or more benevolent heart, or 
quenched, as far as it could quench it, the light of a more brilliant 
intellect." — Mr. Larned possessed a nice sense of propriety, and 
the utmost grace and urbanity of manners ; and he could do well 
and successfully, what few could safely attempt. In one of his 
tours at the West, he stopped, for the night, at a public house, where 
a crowd of rude men, in the bar-room, were laying aside restraint, 



62 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



partaking freely of the intoxicating cup, and indulging in loud and 
boisterous conversation. He entered, and fearlessly, yet politely, 
announced, that the Rev. Sylvester Lamed would engage in reli- 
gious worship in his apartment, at nine o'clock precisely, and that 
all were cordially invited to attend. The elements of disorder and 
uproar were hushed, and many complied with the invitation. The 
result is known only to the Omniscient mind. — Mr. Earned pos- 
sessed a noble spirit. He coveted not popularity ; he used no arts 
to win public favor, and he lived for no object of personal ambition. 
The strongest pantings of his heart, were for a true and an enlarged 
usefulness ; and his most earnest aspirations were for a near con- 
formity, in all the attributes of his character, to the likeness of his 
Savior, and to the spirit and laws of the gospel. 

I feel unwilling to pass from the subject of this notice, without 
laying before you a passage from one of his Sermons, as a speci- 
men of his sentiments, of his style, and of the power and unction, 
with which he preached. " Now, my brethren, if I were to dismiss 
the subject here, what a dismal cloud would hang over our relations 
to the Godhead ! Before the majesty of his inflexible law, we 
should stand guilty — condemned — with nothing to say, why the ap- 
palling sentence should not be executed. But, in this state of de- 
sertion and hopelessness, the gospel of Christ comes forward and of- 
fers us a Savior ; it tells us of the Son of God, who has died on the 
cross, to reconcile the exercise of mercy with the preservation of 
justice. It shows us the great High Priest, who has suffered in our 
stead — a prince for his people — a father for his children — a God 
for his creatures. He has magnified the law, and made it honora- 
ble, on the one hand ; and he has thrown open, on the other, the 
dungeons of a perishing world, and caused to echo, through their 
dark and dreary cells, the joyous proclamation of mercy. Oh ! 
could those ill-fated men, whom lately we saw expire on the gal- 
lows ; could they, while marching out to, the scene of death, have 
heard, that a substitute had been provided ; could some one have 
approached them to strike off their fetters, and bid them return to 
the life, they had forfeited ; what a transport of joy would have 
thrilled through their throbbing hearts ? But all this, and more 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 63 

than this, has been done for the sinner. For him has Calvary been 
steeped in blood ; for him has Jesus Christ goDe to execution ; and 
hardly do we see, in return, the decency of ordinary gratitude. 
And yet, what is the most disgraceful and terrific death of the 
body, compared with the death of the soul ? What are the chains, 
the coffin, the soldiery, the fatal card, the last signal, the choked 
and struggling breath, the strained and glazed eye, the convulsed 
and blackened countenance ; what are these things, to that wither- 
ing sentence, " Depart ye cursed ?" 

Next to Sylvester Earned, Carlos Wilcox, also of the class of 
1813, holds the foremost place among the deceased Alumni of the 
College, as an elegant writer of Sermons, and an interesting and 
effective preacher. From early childhood, he evinced the same 
traits of character, by which in subsequent life, he was distinguished : 
an unusual capacity for the acquisition of knowledge, an amiable 
and an affectionate temper, and a dutiful and correct deportment. 
In his tenth year, he received an injury, the consequences of which, 
were felt to the day of his death. During the months and years of 
suffering, which ensued, he exhibited an equanimity of temper, a 
maturity of thought and a manliness of conduct, which made a deep 
and enduring impression on those, who saw him. A physician, who 
visited him but occasionally, could not, twenty years after, refer to 
what transpired in his sickroom, without the strongest emotion. He 
easily took and retained, the first place in the common school, and at 
the Academy. In College, he distinguished himself in every branch 
of learning, but he excelled in literary, rather than scientific pur- 
suits. W T hen he graduated, he was called to perform, what was re- 
garded as the most honorable service, to pronounce the valedictory 
address, and this in a class, numerous and of rare excellence. At 
an early period of College life, notwithstanding his gentle and amia- 
ble spirit, and his pure and irreproachable life, he was brought to 
feel a deep sense of personal unworthiness, and to hope for salva- 
tion, only through the rich mercy of God and a Savior's merits. 
This change in his views and affections, wrought a corresponding 
change in his purposes, and turned his attention to the sacred office, 
as his sphere of exertion for life. Accordingly, in 1814, he be- 



04 MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

canie a member of the Theological Seminary at Andover. Having, 
amidst no little embarrassment, arising from impaired health and de- 
pressed spirits, — the result of circumstances, which others ought not 
to have allowed to wring his heart with anxiety and distress, — fin- 
ished his course of study, he at length came before the public as a 
preacher, and was enabled to take and maintain a highly elevated 
position. Wherever he preached, he was listened to, with the live- 
liest interest. His style was dignified, flowing and correct. With, 
perhaps, some tendency to diffuseness and some redundancy of or- 
nament, he had a fund of noble and impressive thoughts ; and when 
he spoke, every ear was open to hear, and every eye was fixed to 
behold. His countenance was full of life and expression ; his voice 
was clear and musical, yet thrilling in its intonations ; his elocution 
was animated and touching ; and his action graceful and impressive. 
Seldom has a young man been heard, with a more absorbing atten- 
tion, or with higher delight, or larger advantage. After preaching 
in various places, and receiving invitations to settle in some of them, 
in 1824, he was called to occupy the pulpit of North Church, in 
Hartford, Connecticut, and soon a request was made to him to be- 
come their pastor. With this invitation he complied ; and an at- 
tachment, so strong and enduring, was formed, that, though com- 
pelled, by a failure of health, to relinquish his charge, within little 
more than a year after his ordination, when he died at Danbury 
in 1827, they insisted on removing his remains from the place of 
their original interment, and depositing them among themselves, 
by the side of those of the Rev. Dr. Strong, their former 
venerated and beloved pastor. When he left them, they parted 
from him with the utmost reluctance ; and only after he had felt him- 
self called, by an overruling sense of duty and honor, to decline 
their highly liberal proposal to grant him, with ample pecuniary re- 
sources, as extended a period for relaxation and travel, as he might 
deem needful. In one respect, Mr. Wilcox, was, most unhappily 
for himself and others, mistaken in the course which he pursued. 
And I name it as a warning to others, who may be tempted to a 
similar error. By writing and delivering sermons, so long and 
elaborate, he tasked his strength beyond endurance, and broke 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 65 



down a constitution, frail at the best ; but which, with kindlier usage, 
might have given him protracted years for labor, and made him, for 
an extended period, a blessing to the church and the world. — As a 
minister, Mr. Wilcox, in his intercourse with his people, united, we 
are told, singular faithfulness with the most delicate sense of pro- 
priety. There were no weak points in his character ; and there was 
nothing, in his conversation in the family, or the social circle, to 
destroy the impressions, made by him in the pulpit. Wherever he 
was known, he was eminently beloved, and the remembrance of his 
worth is warmly cherished in the minds of his friends. But he 
lived not in vain. And while, viewed in connexion with his feeble 
health, his morbid depression of spirits and his brief career, shades 
of mystery and sadness rest upon his history, it has another and a 
brighter aspect. And he may himself be added to the list of friends, 
whom he has so finely commemorated : S. M. Allen, S. Earned, 
A. M. Fisher,* L. Parsons, P. Fisk, and J. R. Andrus. 

Ye were a group of stars, collected here,f 
Some mildly glowing, others sparkling bright. 
Here rising in a region calm and clear, 
Ye shone a while, with intermingled light, 
Then parting each pursuing his own flight, 
O'er the wide hemisphere, ye singly shone; 
But, ere ye climb'd to half your promised height, 
Ye sunk, with bright'ning glory round you thrown; 
Each left a brilliant track, as each expired alone. 

Mr. Wilcox was a poet, as well as a preacher ; and he possessed 
in himself, some of the primary and essential elements of a true po- 
et. Had he been able to devote himself unembarrassed, to storing 
his mind with all desirable knowledge, to giving his various powers 
their highest discipline and culture, and to pluming his imagination 
for her loftiest flights, he might have produced some work, " which 
the world would not willingly let die." Of this position, t%e first 
book of his " Age of Benevolence " and fragments of other books, 
furnish unquestionable proof. With a graphic accuracy and the 
most nice and delicate touches, he presents before us delineations 



*Prof. Math, and Nat. Phil. Yal. Coll., who perished by shipwreck ©n the coast 

of Ireland. 

tAndover. 

9 



6G MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

of scenes, signally accordant "with nature and truth, and evincing 
that " he look'd on nature with a poet's eye," appreciated her beau- 
ties with a poet's taste, and felt thein with a poet's heart. I give a 
single example : 

" A mind, in love 
With mournful musing, never turns in vain 
To nature, for some dear, congenial scene. 
But scenes there are, so fraught with soothing power, 
They woo the pensive mind, when unemployed. 
A sultry noon, not in the summers's prime, 
When all is fresh with life and youth and bloom ; 
But, near its close, when vegetation stops, 
And fruits, mature, stand rip'ning in the sun, 
Soothes and enervates, with its thousand charms, 
The melancholy mind. The fields are still, 
The husbandman has gone to his repast, 
And, that partaken, on the coolest side 
Of his abode, reclines in sweet repose. 
Deep in the shaded stream the cattle stand ; 
The flocks beside the fence, with heads all prone, 
And panting quick. The fields, for harvest ripe, 
No breezes bend in smooth and giaceful waves, 
While, with their motion, dim and bright by turns, 
The sunshine seems to move. Not e'en a breath 
Brushes along the surface, with a shade, 
Fleeting and thin, like that of flying smoke. 
The slender stalks their heavy, bended heads 
Support as motionless, as oaks their tops. 
O'er all the woods, the topmost leaves are still ; 
E'en the wild poplar leaves, that, pendant hung, 
By stems elastic, quiver at a breath, 
Rest in the gen'ral calm. The thistlo down, 
Seen high and thick, by gazing up with care, 
Plumb down, and slower than the slowest snow, 
Through all the sleepy atmosphere descends ; 
And when it lights, though on the steepest roof, 
Or smallest spire of grass, remains unmov'd. 
White as a fleece, as dense and as distinct, 
From the resplendent sky, a single cloud, 
On the soft bosom of the air becalm'd, 
Drops a lone shadow, as precise and still, 
On the bare plain, or sunny mountain's side, 
Or in the polished mirror of the lake, 
In which the deep, reflected sky appears 
A calm, sublime immensity below." 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 67 

I close my remarks upon the life and character of Mr. Wilcox, 
with the last stanza of the " Religion of Taste," delivered by him he- 
fore the <J> o 3 EL Society of Yale College. He here addresses us 
in thoughts and words, which should stir our souls, as with a trum- 
pet's blast. 

"Kouse to some work of high and holy love ; 
Then thou an angel's happiness shalt know, 
And bless the earth, while in the world above. 
The good, begun by thee, shall onward flow, 
In many a branching stream, and wider grow . 
The seed, that in these few and fleeting hours, 
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow, 
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, 
And yield thee fruits divine, in heaven's immortal bowers." 

Thomas Charlton Henry, who graduated in 1814, was the 
eldest son of Alexander Henry, of Philadelphia, long the benevo- 
lent and venerated President of the American Sunday School 
Union. He was originally, in the views and wishes of his friends, 
devoted to mercantile pursuits. But his preference was for a lit- 
erary career, and after he had felt the power of religion, and had 
consecrated himself to his Savior, nothing could divert him from 
serving God in the Gospel of his Son. The most splendid and 
tempting prospects of distinction and afflaence were powerless, as 
to alluring him from his purpose to preach Christ to lost men. As 
a scholar, his attainments in literature, in distinction from science, 
were eminent. While a member of College, he made himself, to 
an extent almost, if not altogether unprecedented, acquainted with 
several modern languages. Upon leaving College, he at once, en- 
tered upon, and completed the regular course of theological study at 
Princeton. When he first appeared in the pulpit, his prepossessing 
person, his gentlemanly manners, his rare endowments, original and 
acquired, and his attractive eloquence, with his earnestness and zeal, 
combined to secure him an unusual measure of regard ; and opened 
to him several highly inviting fields of labor. He received invita- 
tions from churches in Wilmington, Del., Salem, Mass., and Lex- 
ington, Ky., which he declined. At length, he accepted a call, 
unanimously given, from the Presbyterian church in Columbia, S. 



68 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

C, where he was ordained in November, 1818. He entered upon 
his duties, with a deep sense of his responsibilities, and with a fixed 
purpose, that his course should be one of untiring labor and uncom- 
promising fidelity. Taking a decided stand in support of vital re- 
ligion, urging plainly and strenuously the doctrines of the Cross, and 
the claims of duty upon the understanding and the conscience, and 
employing as auxiliaries in his great work of winning souls to Christ, 
the frequent prayer-meeting, instruction and warning in the domes- 
tic circle, and individual expostulation, the results were such, as 
were to be anticipated. The church rejoiced in the enjoyment of 
spiritual prosperity, and many were convinced of guilt and clanger, 
and led to cast themselves, in penitence and faith, at the foot of the 
Cross ; while others, of adverse sentiments and feelings, gathered 
around the standard of a determined opposition. In these circum- 
stances, the temptations to temporize must, of course, have been 
strong. By omitting, or softening the annunciation of offensive 
truth, and by forbearing to press unwelcome duties, universal favor 
might have been his. But he had " not so learned Christ ;" and, 
without hesitation, he sacrificed the kindness of former friends, in 
a fixed and stern adherence to duty and conscience. At the close 
of the fifth year of his ministry, Mr. Henry received a unanimous 
call from the second Presbyterian church in Charleston, to become 
its pastor. This invitation he accepted, under the full belief, that it 
was a station, which promised him higher happiness and a more ex- 
tended usefulness, than the post, which he then occupied. In this 
important congregation, unembarrassed by opposition, and sur- 
rounded by a harmonious and an affectionate people, he had before 
him a field of action, worthy of his talents and his enterprise. And 
seldom has a nobler model of pastoral activity and faithfulness been 
seen, and seldom have the great ends of the ministry been more ef- 
fectually attained. In the stated services of the pulpit and in the 
crowded lecture-room, in the bible-class and the Sabbath-school, and 
in every family of his charge, and in the privacy of personal inter- 
course, his full soul was poured forth in earnest and faithful instruc- 
tion and entreaty, and in fervent prayer. JSTor was the harvest of 
his labors long delayed. In the first and second years of his brief 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 69 

ministry, no inconsiderable additions were made to the church ; but 
in the third, more extended success was awarded him, and a goodly 
number of converts was gathered into its bosom. — The labors and 
anxieties, to which he had been subjected, so far impaired his health, 
as to render a season of relaxation indispensable. Dr. Henry, 
therefore, resolved on a voyage to Europe. During a residence of 
four or five months there, he travelled through the principal parts 
of Great Britain and Ireland, and visited the continent. This jour- 
ney was attended by many interesting occurrences, and was pro- 
ductive of important results, both to himself and others. His views 
were expanded, and he was fired with enlarged desires and roused 
to new efforts to add to his stores of learning, and to secure to him- 
self a more extended, and an enduring influence for good. Amidst 
all the scenes, through which he passed, the great business of life 
was not lost sight of. Whether on the mighty deep, on the rapid 
journey, or in the thronged city, he did not fear to speak for God, 
or hesitate to urge the obligations of religion and the preciousness. 
of salvation. And he had the cheering assurance furnished him, 
that several of the attendants on his preaching and of the compan- 
ions of his travels were, under God, brought, through his agency, 
to feel the power of religion and to rejoice in the christian's hope. 
— On his return to his charge, while he remitted nothing of his de- 
votedness to pastoral duty, he addressed himself, with unprece- 
dented vigor and assiduity, to study and composition. He pressed 
forward to the completion of every task, as if under the constant 
impression, that he had much to do, and that his " time was short." 
His work, " Letters to an Anxious Inquirer for Salvation," under- 
taken at the special request of an English gentleman, who was, for 
some time, his travelling companion, was commenced soon after his 
return. And to its execution, he could not have allotted more un- 
ceasing toil and earnest effort, had he foreseen, that, before its pub- 
lication, his season of exertion would be over, and his opportunities 
of usefulness gone forever. On the appearance of that scourge of 
Charleston, the yellow fever, in August, 1827, Dr. Henry could 
not be persuaded to leave the city, or to omit any of his labors. 
Accordingly, he continued to visit the sick and afflicted, and to oc- 



70 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

cupy his pulpit, till the first of October, when he was suddenly seized 
by that fatal malady, which, in four days, at the early age of thir- 
ty-seven, closed his eyes in the leaden slumber of death. — Dr. 
Henry possessed many rich endowments. His person was elegant 
and attractive ; and his manners were affable and polished. In 
voice, look and action, he possessed, in an eminent degree, the at- 
tributes of an accomplished orator. In classical and theological 
learning, he had, it is said, few equals of his own age and country. 
The corporation of Yale College, in 1824, conferred on him the de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity. To a critical knowledge of the ancient, 
he added a correct acquaintance with several modern languages. Es- 
pecially was he familiar with the originals of the Holy Scriptures, 
and with the writings of the Fathers. In a word, he was an orna- 
ment to his profession and a blessing to the church. — In his final 
hour, amidst the consternation and anguish, occasioned by his sud- 
den and fatal illness, he alone was calm and unterrified. While a- 
round him were lamentation and woe, his voice was employed in the 
utterance of joy and praise. And while " a horror of great dark 
ness " rested on others, at this unlooked for and untimely summons 
from his labors and his usefulness, he regarded the closing scene 
with delight, as but preceding the cloudless dawn of an immortal 
day. 

To Ruel Keith, of the class of 1814, the mind turns with min- 
gled emotions of delight and sadness. It is with delight, that we 
revert to his sound and vigorous understanding, to his various at- 
tainments as a scholar, to his devout and benevolent spirit, and to 
his conscientious and fearless adherence to truth and duty. It is 
with a feeling of unmixed satisfaction, that we retrace his career of 
usefulness and honor. But it is with sadness, that we contem- 
plate that mysterious providence, in which so clear an intellect is 
shrouded in darkness, and so pure and pious a heart becomes the 
victim of a moody melancholy, till even mental alienation is the re- 
sult, and he closes his course in night. But, it is a night, which 
leaves us the blessed hope, that, when the light of another world 
broke upon his vision, all was clay ; bright, celestial, everlasting 
day. — Mr. Keith was second to no member of the class, to which 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 71 



he belonged, either as to the powers of his mind, or his attainments 
in knowledge. Two years after leaving College, he was chosen 
Tutor, and fulfilled the duties of the office with ability and success. 
After receiving ordination in the Protestant Episcopal church, he 
had charge, for some years, of a congregation in Georgetown, D. 
C. Subsequently he was appointed Professor of Humanity and 
History, in William and Mary's College, Williamsburgh, Ya. Here 
he continued, only till the establishment of the Theological Semi- 
nary near Alexandria. He then became connected with that in- 
stitution as Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and Pastoral Theology. 
Here he remained, in the discharge of his official duties, enjoying, 
to no ordinary degree, the respect, confidence and affections of those 
who knew him, till impaired health and a morbid depression of spir- 
its, the result of domestic affliction, unfitted him for further service 
to the church and the world. — His translation of " Hengstenberg's 
Christology" furnishes evidence at once, of his thorough scholarship, 
of his evangelical views and spirit, and of his devotion to the inter- 
ests of a pure and scriptural Christianity. He was an eminently 
godly man ; and in the pulpit, he fully and faithfully announced the 
doctrines and inculcated the duties of religion, without fear, or af- 
fection. What he believed, he preached, whether men would hear, 
or forbear. His instructions must have been, in every view, val- 
uable ; and suited to advance the theological learning and the intel- 
lectual discipline of his pupils, and to subserve the interests of 
heart-felt piety. The training, which such a teacher would give 
them, must be adapted to furnish the church with ministers, like 
Romaine and Venn and Cecil in England, and Jarratt and Milnor 
and Bedell in this country ; men, had in grateful and honored re- 
membrance, by christians of every Protestant communion. Happy 
will it be for them, and for the interests of truth and godliness, if 
the mantle of the ascended Elijah shall rest on the young Elishas, 
whom he labored to train for their high and holy work. 

Joseph Brown was a native of Ashby, Mass. He graduated in 
1817, and closed his theological studies at Andoverin 1820. With 
the exception of three, who had each the office of Tutor, he was 
clearly the best scholar in the class. It was originally his desire 



72 MIDDLEBTJRY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

and purpose to enter the missionary field. But the feebleness of 
his constitution induced him, though possessing a missionary's heart, 
to engage in labors in his native land. Soon after leaving Ando- 
ver, he went on a mission to South Carolina, and, in the course of 
a few months, became a preacher to seamen at Charleston. Here 
he remained eight years, securing the confidence not only of ship- 
masters and their crews, but of almost every philanthropist in the 
city. His great simplicity of character, his obvious purity of mo- 
tive and intention, and his frank and cordial manners made all feel, 
that he was a friend alike of God and man, and worthy of encour- 
agement in his many and various plans for doing good. Every 
project, suited to improve the temporal condition, or to promote the 
spiritual welfare and ensure the salvation of men, found in him a 
warm and an earnest friend and advocate. But, it was the condi- 
tion of the neglected sailor, long regarded as abandoned of God and 
an outcast from hope, which awakened his deepest sympathy and 
prompted his most vigorous efforts. In addition to what he did for 
seamen at Charleston, he visited most of the northern ports, and en- 
deavored to create a general interest in behalf of that degraded and 
wretched class of men. In 1828, he spent weeks in New York, 
Boston, and other cities, for the purpose of effecting the formation 
of a National Seamen's Friends Society. Such a Society had once 
existed ; but it had now only a name to live. The most ardent 
friends of seamen had well nigh lost all hope, in the practicability 
of sustaining such an institution. But the faith of Mr. Brown was 
not shaken, and his confidence and zeal gathered strength, as ob- 
jections and obstacles multiplied around him. And success at length 
crowned his endeavors. In 1831, he was called from Charleston 
to be the general Agent of the Society. He was already familiar 
with its character, plans and wants. A commencement had been 
made in procuring places of worship and establishing chaplains a- 
long our internal waters and in foreign ports ; undertakings invol- 
ving no slight expense and responsibility. The erection of a house 
for the use of the Society , and to meet the various necessities of 
the seafaring community, was urgently demanded. In effecting 
these enterprises, Mr. Brown was a most judicious and faithful la- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 73 



borer. Within a few weeks of his death, he was in the Interior, 
pleading the cause of the mariner with a voice and an energy, which 
few, even in the full vigor of life, possess. The number of the Sail- 
or's Magazine for the month in which he died, was prepared by him- 
self; and even apart of the matter for that, which contained an 
obituary notice of himself, was of his selection. He was thus per- 
mitted to labor on, almost to his final hour. The suddenness of the 
summons surprised his friends and even himself. Yet he was pre- 
pared to go ; and he meekly bowed to the divine will, with that 
cheerful submission, with which he always met sickness and the tri- 
als of life. He simply said that he had supposed, that the Lord 
had something more for him to do ; but he knew what was best and 
would do right. He gave directions, with great calmness, respect- 
ing his little son, about to be doubly an orphan, expressing his strong 
desire, and offering his dying prayer, that he might become a sin- 
cere christian and a faithful minister of the gospel. — Mr. Brown 
was one of the pioneers in that noble enterprise, which is effecting 
so desirable a revolution in the characters and habits of seamen, 
and which, to so wide an extent, is giving a new aspect to their con- 
dition. The sailor is no longer regarded as irredeemably abandoned 
and hopeless. Many a forecastle, once the scene of intemperance 
and riot and blasphemy, has become a Bethel, and is the abode of 
sobriety and order, of harmony and love, and echoes with the notes 
of prayer and praise. Having devoted himself to an interest, so 
grand and beneficent, and having aided in securing such results ; 
who can hesitate to say, that he did not live in vain ? 

Abijah Crane, who graduated in 1820, was not distinguished 
for the clearness of his conceptions, or for his taste, or for the vari- 
ety, or extent of his acquisitions. His precise position as a schol- 
ar, my recollections will not enable me to assign him. But it was 
not an elevated one. But he was eminently marked by the pos- 
session of energy and enterprise and perseverance ; and he is a me- 
morable example of a man, not gifted with a superior order of in- 
tellect, accomplishing much for the church, and securing to himself 
a wide and desirable reputation. His character as a religious man, 

in the estimation, which I was led to form of it, was eminent ; and 

10 



74 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

it aided greatly in rendering him a zealous, an impressive and an 
acceptable preacher. — Mr. Crane designed, it is said, to have en- 
tered the missionary field, and had offered himself for employment 
to the A. B. C. F. M., and was, for a season, engaged in their ser- 
vice, as an Agent in Western New York. But from considera- 
tions, not indicating either instability of purpose, or any deficiency 
of interest in the missionary enterprise, he relinquished his purpose, 
and settled as Pastor of a church in Westmoreland, Oneida Co., 
N. Y. — He was, says the gentleman, to whom I am indebted for 
some facts and opinions respecting Mr. Crane, wanting in decision 
and firmness, and yielded too much to the ultraisms, of which 
Oneida County was the hot-bed in Western New York. His sym- 
pathies were decidedly in its favor, and he was actively engaged in 
promoting the excitement, which prevailed in our churches more 
than twenty years ago ; and which was termed by many the " Great 
Oneida Revival." But, sooner than most of his associates, he be- 
came convinced of his error, and I have the means of knowing, that 
he looked back with 'regret, if not with remorse, upon some things, 
said and done by him at that period. But, — I would observe here, — 
who is not aware, that men, not regarded as particularly deficient 
in decision and firmness, have often yielded to measures, which they 
could not fully approve, from the^ apprehension,! that, if they op- 
posed them, they might be found fighting against God, and in an 
attitude adverse to the conversion and salvation of men ? And 
who is there, who, in a season of general excitement, in which he 
largely participates, has not uttered language and been guilty of 
conduct, which may well be regarded with regret, and ' even with 
compunction ? I would further remark respecting the subject'lhere 
referred to, and also brought into view, in my notice of Mr. Frost 
and of Mr. Barrows, that conflicting opinions were entertained by in- 
telligent and good men ; and there may have been faults on both 
sides ; so that, while to awaken an interest with regard to religion 
and the soul, and to turn men from sin to holiness, measures, irreg- 
ular and reprehensible, may, at times, have been employed ; an un- 
due jealousy, on the other hand, may have been occasionally in- 
dulged, and such a course of condemnation and resistance pursued, 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 75 



as was adapted only to kindle a fiercer zeal and to goad on to wild- 
er extravagances. " During the last twelve or fourteen years of 
his life, Mr. Crane," says my correspondent, " was the devoted and 
successful Agent of the Home Missionary Society, having the cen- 
ter of his operations at Utica. I never heard it suggested, during 
this period, that, in his intercourse with the churches, he sought to 
promote any interests, but those of truth and goodness, or to secure 
any other objects, than the glory of God and the salvation of men. 
He died suddenly in the village of Clinton, N. Y., about three 
years since, and was deeply and widely lamented." 

I have spoken, as yet, only of those, who have been preachers of 
the gospel and have filled the pastoral office. I have another class, 
somewhat numerous to bring before you, of those, who have been 
missionaries to the heathen. 

Of these, the first, who occurs, is Edward Warren. He left 
College in 1808. Though I knew him personally, my recollections 
of him are general and indistinct ; and the accounts, which I have 
been able to gain from others, are far from being marked and speci- 
fic. He possessed a good mind, and held a very reputable standing 
as a scholar. After finishing his course in College, he entered up- 
on the study of the law. But, having felt the power of religion, he 
relinquished the bar for the pulpit ; and having completed at Ando- 
ver his preparatory studies for the ministry, he devoted himself to 
the service of Christ among the heathen. He had great suavity of 
temper and amiableness of demeanor, with an unquestioned piety ; 
and he enjoyed the universal and respectful regard and confidence 
of the community, and eminently the esteem and attachment of the 
missionary brethren, with whom he was associated. He died of 
a consumption, at an early day, before he had time to qualify him- 
self for efficient labors on missionary ground, or to win trophies to 
adorn his missionary career. But, again and again, when in his own 
view and in that of others on the verge of the grave, and when act- 
ually called to meet his final hour, he was enabled to evince, in a 
manner affecting and delightful, the power of religion to sustain and 
bless. In Ceylon, when apparently near the close of life, he was 
undismayed and triumphant ; and at the Cape of Good Hope, 



76 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

where he ended his days, such was the impression caused bj the 
exhibition, which he made of the peace and hope and joy, with 
which the christian can close his eye on life, that the result was the 
conversion of the attendant, who watched by his dying bed. 

The precise standing, as to talents and scholarship, of Joseph 
R. A:\DRUS, who graduated in 1812, I am unable to assign him. 
But he must have occupied a very reputable place in his class. He 
was held in high estimation by his associates and friends, and he 
was numbered among the choice spirits, gathered at Anclover, who 
are commemorated by Wilcox ; and, in the list, no ordinary man is 
to be found. He was not engaged precisely in the missionary ser- 
vice. But he had a missionary's devotedness and courage, and he 
made his life a sacrifice to the hazards, which he incurred in his no- 
ble and perilous endeavor to do good. He embarked in an under- 
taking, which had it distinctly in view, at least among- its more re- 
mote and incidental objects, to enlighten and bless and save the 
heathen. He was, at the outset, engaged in founding the colony 
of Liberia, which is now so decidedly whining its way to a high de- 
gree of public favor ; which is irradiating the darkness of Africa, 
and shedding there the blessings of a christian civilization and lit- 
erature, and diffusing the light of divine truth ; which is doing more 
than any thing else, to intercept that ruthless and accursed com- 
merce, the slave trade, and which is pre-eminently helping to solve 
one of the great problems of the age, by evincing, by experiment 
and beyond doubt, that the colored race are men, competent to the 
task of self-government, and capable of forming a community, in- 
telligent and orderly, prosperous and happy. Looked at in the 
light of these facts, African colonization is justly entitled to be 
regarded as one of the grandest and most beneficent enterprises, at- 
tempted by the philanthropic and pious, in modern times. Having 
completed his course of theological study and received ordination 
in the Protestant Episcopal Church, Mr. Andrus is, at length, 
sent out to Africa as an Agent, by the American Colonization So- 
ciety. Here in 1822, he falls an early victim to his exposures and 
privations, and the deleterious influence of the climate. 

Of Allen Graves, who also graduated in 1812, little, as it re- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 7 1 

gards his College life and standing, that is peculiar and distin- 
guished, is known. I have never been led to suppose, that he was 
chargeable with any special deficiency, as to mind, or acquirements. 
On the contrary, my belief has uniformly been, that he was justly 
regarded as highly estimable both as a man and a scholar, and as a 
christian and a missionary. Amidst the discouragements, produced 
by disease and the slight success, attending all attempts to break 
down the mighty system of Hindoo idolatry, and to sever the iron 
chain of caste, he long labored with patient toil and unfailing per- 
severance in the missionary work, till he sunk into the grave, ex- 
hausted by his efforts and the enfeebling influence of an enervating 
climate. His exertions were marked by great zeal and fidelity ; 
and though like most others in India, he was 'little more than a pi- 
oneer, preparing the way for those, who might succeed him, as de- 
sirable results attended his endeavors, as most others were allowed 
to see. 

I now come to two individuals of the class of 1814, Plixy Fisk 
and Levi Parsoxs, whose early deaths and the singularly interest- 
ing field, to which they were sent, combined with their personal 
characters, have given them a degree of celebrity, which few oth- 
ers have attained. — Mr. Fisk was a man of robust frame and a vig- 
orous mind, and capable of great physical and mental effort. But 
he did not hold the place, as a scholar, which he might, without 
difficulty, have attained. He was, probably, not fitted for College, 
either as to the extent, or thoroughness of his acquisitions, in the 
manner, which is eminently desirable. He had also imbibed, to 
some extent, it is believed, the mistaken opinions, that classical 
learning has little, if any connection with preparation for the min- 
istry, or with success in it. Every species of knowledge is valua- 
ble, and helps to discipline and mature the mind ; it furnishes allu- 
sions and illustrations, which will aid in exhibiting and enforcing 
truth and duty, and it thus assists to qualify more fully him, who is 
to be a minister of the sanctuary, for his high and sacred office. 
He was also eager to be engaged at once, in doing good. He was 
pre-eminent for his readiness and facility at extempore efforts ; and 
hence, his services at meetings for religious exhortation and social 



78 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE*. 

worship, both in this place and in the adjoining communities, were 
highly acceptable, and earnestly sought. In preparation for such 
occasions, and in an attendance on them, time was consumed, which 
must have interfered materially with his attainments in scholarship. 
If a young man, in the course of his education, can secure oppor- 
tunities of doing good, without losing sight of his great object of 
pursuits, qualifying himself most amply for the efficient and success- 
ful performance of the duties, to which he is to be summoned, he 
may well and gladly embrace them. But if by his premature en- 
deavors to be useful, he renders his preparation for all his after-ex- 
ertions, mutilated and inadequate, he greatly errs and sacrifices a 
higher and a life-long, to an inferior and a passing advantage. Mr. 
Fisk, upon leaving College, entered on the study of theology with 
the minister of his native town, the Rev. Dr. Packard, of Shel- 
burne, Mass., and, after a few months application, was authorized 
to commence preaching. He is soon invited to Wilmington, where 
a most unpromising field of labor presented itself. Jealousy, ani- 
mosity and strife largely prevailed. But, under God, he was ena- 
bled to remove the suspicions of jealousy, to alloy the rancor of 
hatred and to cast oil on the troubled waters of strife. A deep 
and extended interest on the subject of religion prevailed, harmony 
was restored to the church, and numbers were awakened from se- 
curity in sin and turned to the way of life. But, notwithstanding 
the success of his efforts at Wilmington, and the earnest solicitations 
of the people, he declined remaining with them. He had previous- 
ly resolved on a complete course of theological study, and he had 
his eye directed to another sphere of exertion. Accordingly, in 
1815, he became a member of the Theological Seminary at Ando- 
ver. Here his course was such, as largely retrieved the errors of 
his College life, and enabled him to make such attainments, as con- 
tributed greatly to fit him for his future labors, and to ensure him 
the success and reputation, which he gained. On entering the ser- 
vice of the A. B. C. F. M., Mr. Fisk went on an agency to the 
South ; and he was highly prospered in the collection of funds, and 
in procuring himself adopted, as their Missionary to Palestine, by 
an association in Savannah. — When he had reached his destined 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 7S> 



field of exertion abroad, wherever he went, the impression, which 
he made on those, who became acquainted with him, was largely 
in his favor. He commanded uniformly and eminently their respect,, 
confidence and attachment. At Scio and Smyrna, at Be^yroot and 
Alexandria, and at Jaffa and Jerusalem, lie was alike favorably 
known as a man, a christian and a missionary. But his career was- 
brief. In less than five years from the time of his entering on mis- 
sionary labors, his season of exertion was closed. 

The impression made by his death on the community at Smyrna,, 
on the missionaries there, among whom he died, and on the relig- 
ious public in this country, was unprecedented and solemn. As- 
soon as the news of his death was heard, all the flags of the differ- 
ent consuls were seen at half mast. His funeral was attended by 
a more numerous and orderly concourse of people, than had ever 
been witnessed, on a similar occasion. The missionaries say : " As- 
for ourselves, we feel that we have lost our elder brother. Our 
house is left unto us desolate. To die, we doubt not, has been in- 
finite gain to him ; but to us, the loss seems irreparable. He cheered 
us in the social circle, he reproved us when we erred, and he 
strengthened us by his prayers, exhortations and counsels. An- 
other servant of Christ, with talents like his for explaining and en- 
forcing the doctrines of the gospel, and who shall be able to preach 
fluently in most of the languages, heard in this country, will not 
soon be found. He had made such attainments in Erench, Italian, 
Modern Greek and Arabic, that he could preach, in all these lan- 
guages, the unsearchable riches of Christ ; and his doctrine dropped 
as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew. His end was peace. 
The Arabs were deeply affected, as they stood around his dying bed. 
They Avere amazed at his tranquility of mind, and could not con- 
ceive it possible, that any one should be so willing to die; and they 
wept. People of different nations and languages followed him to 
his grave in tears. They felt that they had lost a friend. Such was 
Pliny Fisk ; so he lived, and so he died ; and his memory is blessed. 

Levi Parsons became, in early youth, a follower of Christ, and 
his subsequent life lent its attestation to the genuineness and fervor 
of his piety. His course was most exemplary, all along in life, and 



80 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

Ins anxiety and efforts to do good were earnest and untiring. He 
was a man of a most amiable and attractive spirit, and enjoyed the 
cordial and warm regard of all who knew him. He held a highly 
respectable position, as to talents and scholarship. But he was far 
more distinguished for moral worth, than for intellectual, or literary 
excellence. Indeed, I have been sometimes inclined to the belief, 
that the eulogies, bestowed upon his goodness, his purely christian 
temper and his irreproachable and useful life, have contributed to 
an inadequate appreciation of his understanding and attainments. 
His success as a preacher, so enlarged and cheering, when acting 
under a commission from the Vermont Missionary Society ; his very 
efficient and prosperous labors in organizing the Vermont Juvenile 
Missionary Society, and in securing the very liberal contributions, 
which were made to its funds, clearly expose the supposition of an 
inferior capacity, and decisively evince his ability to exert a most 
valuable influence and to do extensive good. The same fact was 
apparent, and strikingly apparent, in his efforts and the results of 
them, when employed in Western New York in raising means to 
carry forward the missionary enterprise. To no one could a more 
cordial reception have been awarded, and by no one could it have 
been anticipated, that larger contributions would have been secured. 
"When in the missionary field, he commanded the respect and con- 
fidence and love of all, with whom he associated. In view of his 
short missionary career, and of the circumstances, in which he was 
placed, who could be expected to have accomplished more, than he 
achieved ? 

I will give three or four brief extracts from what they have writ- 
ten, showing what Mr. Parsons was , in the estimation of different 
minds. Of the effect of a letter of his, received and read, more 
than a year after his death, to a congregation, to which he had oc- 
casionally ministered, the pastor holds this language : " I may safe- 
ly say, I never witnessed such a general burst of feeling. In a 
moment, the heart of every one, old and young, seemed to be 
melted, and a flood of tears burst from every eye." Says one, 
who knew him well : " Mr. Parsons was greatly beloved and is 
greatly lamented. He was a very devoted christian, of highly re- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 81 



spectable talents and various learning. He was accomplished as a 
man ; in disposition, manners and address, fitted to find a welcome 
access everywhere, and to adorn the most intelligent and refined so- 
ciety. He was eminently characterized by a graceful and dignified 
mildness of demeanor, a readiness of utterance and action, and a 
happy adaptation of himself to surrounding scenes and circum- 
stances. He was among modern missionaries, what Meiancthon 
was among the reformers." " The piety, for which he was distin- 
guished, was by far his brightest ornament. It was this especially 
which rendered him so lovely and beloved. There were seasons, in 
which a sacred sweetness and serenity of temper, and a heavenly 
elevation of thought and feeling seemed to pervade his whole soul." 
Said one, who knew him well : " The devoted missionary to Pales- 
tine, who lately died in Egypt, leaving behind him a mourner in 
every acquaintance and in every friend to piety in her loveliest 
form, gives utterance, but a day or two before his death, to his 
feelings in the following language : " My mortal frame is growing 
weaker and weaker, and is just ready to dissolve into dust ; but 
my immortal spirit grows more and more vigorous, and is about to 
take wing from its prison of flesh. The world is fading away and 
receding from my view, while heaven is coming nearer and growing 
brighter. The earth will soon vanish forever, and all will then be 
heaven." It were idle to suppose, that a man, who could form con- 
ceptions, so noble, and announce them in terms, so beautiful and 
touching, possessed but an ordinary mind. I know no intellect, or 
heart, which would not be honored by thoughts, so elevated and emo- 
tions, savoring so much of heaven ; and clothed in language, so ap- 
propriate and simple and expressive. With the opportunity, here 
furnished you, of taking " the guage and dimensions " of Mr. Par- 
sons' character, intellectually and morally, I leave you to conjec- 
ture what he was, and the admiration and regard, which are due him. 
Samuel Moseley, of the class of 1818, was not eminent as a 
scholar ; but was a man of blessed spirit, meek, devout, conscien- 
tious and blameless. He devoted himself to the service of Christ 
among the heathen ; and in the employment of the A. B. C. F. M., 

was stationed as a missionary among the Cherokees. Here he pur- 

11 



82 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



sued a course of patient, prayerful and self-denying effort, till, years 
ago, he ceased from his labors on earth and went to his rest in 
heaven. I have heard it said of him, and of the truth of the 
statement I know no reason for a doubt, that his room-mate and 
himself entered into a mutual engagement to tell each other fully 
and faithfully their faults. But, the room-mate declared, that, with 
his utmost vigilance, he could detect nothing in Mr. Mosely, wor- 
thy of reprehension, either in temper, or conduct. 

Of Edmund Frost, who graduated in 1820, my recollections 
are, in many particulars, indistinct. I can recall his person ; but 
have no definite remembrance, as to his talents, or scholarship. 
But my belief is that he rose only to respectability, as it regards 
either. He was a man of God and truly devoted to the great ob- 
ject of doing good. His conduct, in all his relations was exempla- 
ry, and his reputation without a stain. He became a missionary 
to India, under the patronage of the A. B. C. F. M. There, — the 
result of pulmonary disease, — he soon closed his labors in death. 

John Thompson, who left College in 182G, was not distinguished 
for energy, and efficiency, either intellectual, or moral. He was, 
however, not deficient in good-sense ; and was particularly charac- 
terized by a frank and kindly disposition. His sincere and humble 
piety, I never knew distrusted. He was associated with Worcester 
and Butler in the Cherokee Mission, at the time, when the State 
of Georgia was perpetrating, with the connivance of the General 
Government, those acts of oppression and robbery, by which she 
plundered those unprotected children of the forest of their lands, 
and drove them, exiles, shelterless and destitute, from their homes 
and the graves of their fathers ; one of the most high-handed in- 
stances of rapacity and wrong, of which a civilized and christian 
community was ever guilty. Mr. Thompson escaped incarceration 
along with his colleagues in the Georgia Penitentiary, a fate, to 
which he had resolved to submit, rather than abandon his post, on- 
ly by the circumstance, that he held, under the United States, the 
office of Post Master, and had, by statute, a legal right to a resi- 
dence on Indian soil. After the mission was broken up by the com- 
pulsory removal of the tribe west of the Mississippi, he returned 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 83 



to the North and, for a few years, preached in different places, 
when he rested from his labors in death. 

Ephraim Spatjlding, who graduated in 1828, possessed no in- 
considerable vigor of understanding, and must have ranked among 
the decidedly better scholars in the class, of which he was a mem- 
ber. It may be the fact, that 1 call to mind more perfectly, not 
what he was when in College ; but what he appeared after his re- 
turn from the Sandwich Islands. He had been employed, for a few 
years, in missionary efforts there ; and from his field, a disease of 
the lungs had sent him home, to linger, for a season, and to die. He 
seemed to have made no little proficiency in his knowledge of the 
native language and in his skill to use it with facility and correct- 
ness. He evinced an intelligent and judicious mind, and an emi- 
nently devoted, missionary spirit. But, in twelve or fourteen 
years after his College course was finished, the work of life was, 
with him, done and we trust and believe, well clone. 

Jesse Caswell, of the class of 1832, possessed a decidedly 
higher capacity for the acquisition of knowledge, and was clearly a 
more thorough proficient in scholarship, than several, whom I have 
named as laborers in missionary field. But, by some mental or 
moral obliquity, or by some sinister influence, which he came under, 
he must have been prepared to adopt the ultra opinions, which he 
imbibed, and to pursue the reprehensible course, which he took, ter- 
minating in the unhappy and, as it regarded himself, discreditable 
termination of his connexion with the A. B. C. F. M. He and the 
associate, with whom he accorded in principle and spirit, became 
arrogant and dogmatical, the sturdy, disputatious and unappeasable 
advocates of their novel sentiments. And the views, of which they 
became so pertinacious and earnest champions, were of no practical 
moment. The Siamese were to be converted, before they could be 
elevated to the high point of sinless excellence ; and the work of 
conversion was, with them, yet to be begun. And the practical 
value of the theory, I have never been able, any where, to discov- 
er. Perfection, though it may never be attained, is, it is agreed 
on all hands, to be the scope of the christian's aspirations and ef- 
forts. For this, he is to watch and pray and toil, with eager de- 



84 MIDDLEBUEY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



sires, a ceaseless diligence and a perseverance, which ends only at 
the grave. Let a man do this, and he will be all, of which human- 
it y is susceptible, and make attainments, which few of the children 
of God reach. But even those, who maintain, that sinlessness is 
attainable, seldom avow the belief, that such high excellence is an 
attribute of their hearts and lives. And should such a claim be 
preferred, the community would, very extensively, demur to its va- 
lidity, unless, I will not say, "malice and all uncharitableness," 
but a spirit of great acerbity and a course, highly vituperative and 
denunciatory, be admitted, as substantial proof. I was once stating to 
a lady, who had resided, for some time, among the advocates of per- 
fectionism in Ohio, and who was their decided admirer, my grounds 
of disapprobation of them, as acrimonious in their temper, and bit- 
ter and denunciatory, in their tone and language ; " To be sure," 
was the reply, " they don't like stupid ministers, or stupid churches," 
But, in their estimation, all are stupid ministers and stupid church- 
es, who do not adopt their views, approve their measures and do 
their bidding. I am happy, however, to know, that, with a solita- 
ry exception, Mr. Caswell retained his former views of the truths 
of religion. It is also grateful to me, to be able to entertain the 
belief, that, in his change of opinion, and in his subsequent course, 
so foreign from what is remembered of his spirit and habits, he was 
more sinned against, than sinning. His great fault, I have no 
doubt, was unduly yielding to the influence of a man, who was, in 
no respect, as it regards intellect, or heart, entitled to the ascenden- 
cy over him, which he acquired. Not long after the sad disrup- 
tion of his relations to the Board of Commissioners, Mr. Caswell, 
when he had scarcely passed the medium of life, slept in death, 
and found, as we have a cheering hope, perfection in heaven. 

I come now to a class, small indeed, but not to be passed over 
in the review, which I am taking, who were engaged, to some ex- 
tent at least, in the business of instruction. 

The first, whom I shall present before you, is James K. Platt, 
of the class of 1812, Professor of Surgery in the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Vermont. With Dr. Platt, as a schol- 
ar, I had no personal acquaintance. But he commanded, in a high 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 85 



degree, the respect of those, who knew him, both in view of his tal- 
ents and acquirements. He was a man of great purity of charac- 
ter and high worth. He enjoyed eminent advantages for qualify- 
ing himself most perfectly for his professional duties ; and they 
were not conferred in vain. He was a thoroughly read and an 
accomplished physician. The reputation, which he had acquired, 
was decisively shown, by the appointment, which he received at 
Burlington. His impaired health, however, prevented his acquir- 
ing the celebrity, which he might have won, and achieving for him- 
self and the public what he might have performed. And his sun 
went down long before it had reached its midway height. He lived 
respected and beloved, and he died honored and lamented. 

Of all, whose memory can reach back to 1817, the remembrance 
and the impression of Solomon M. Allen, of the class of 1813, 
must be vivid and strong. And who has not heard of the sudden 
and appalling close of his life ? By one of those occurrences, a- 
gainst which no foresight and no precautions afford invariable and 
complete security, he was precipitated from the roof of the West 
College, and, terribly bruised and crushed, death was soon the 
mournful result. Well can I remember the startling report of the 
catastrophe, and how the sympathies of the entire community were 
touched, as by an electric shock. In the midst of his agonies and 
with death before him, he recognized with joy the supremacy of 
God. In faltering accents, he utters the Psalmist's words : " The 
Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." But it needed not the lan- 
guage of piety, or a distinct avowal of his hope in Christ, to satis- 
fy any, that he was born of God and was an heir of life. We had 
all heard his exhortations and joined in his prayers ; prayers, offered 
with a strong faith, and warm with the fire of devotion and love ; 
and exhortations, earnest, affectionate and solemn, and suited to 
melt and subdue the heart. There was in him a frank open-heart- 
edness, a generous warmth of feeling, and a cordial affability of 
manner, which made him a general favorite, and led all to confide 
in him, as being all, that he seemed and professed. 

Mr. Allen had the reputation of standing foremost in his class, in 
scientific attainments ; and in the other departments of education, 



86 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

he was not deficient, or inferior. He had not, indeed, the nice taste, 
which would enable him most readily to perceive and most highly 
to appreciate the less obvious beauties of poetry and eloquence. 
He had not the rich imagination, the ready invention, the excursive 
thought and the brilliant imagery of the man of genius. But he 
possessed a clear and discriminating mind, and was well adapted to 
the business of instruction. His object, on leaving College, was the 
ministry. He, therefore, repaired at once to Andover, where he 
spent a year. At the close of this period, he was recalled to Col- 
lege to act as Tutor. Although during his first year, he was, to no 
slight degree, unacceptable to his pupils, he had the wisdom to see, 
and the magnanimity to correct his mistake. As the result, no one 
could have enjoyed a more general and affectionate regard, than 
was subsequently his. It was the high estimation, in which Mr. 
Allen was held, which prompted the corporation in 1816, for the 
purpose of retaining him in permanent connection with the Institu- 
tion, to appoint him Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages, 
to enter on his duties, at the commencement of the next College 
year. At this period he had just arrived, when his disastrous death 
crushed the hopes, and wrung with anguish the hearts of his friends. 
Of Jonathan C. Southmayd, who graduated in 1817, 1 have 
but little to say. His course was unobtrusive and noiseless ; but it 
was not without its desirable and delightful influences and results. 
After serving for two years, with reputation, as Tutor, he devoted 
himself to the business of teaching. And few minds were better 
fitted for the task, by the possession of some of the primary quali- 
fications. He had a perspicacity of mind, enabling him to discern 
truth, and the power of communicating that truth luminously to 
others. " And all his ends were Truth's, Virtue's, God's." He was 
characterized by great purity of design and blamelessness of life. 
His grand defect was a deficiency of energy and enterprise. He 
was unquestionably the leading mind of his class ; and had he pos- 
sessed the nerve and energy of many men, he might have made his 
influence felt through an extended sphere, and eminently for good. 
But, a temperament, the reverse of everything sanguine, and a con- 
stitution, not robust originally, and enfeebled more and more by 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 87 



toil, and which ere long sunk under the load of care and effort, par- 
aiized his strength of purpose and endeavor, and prevented his 
achieving what he was intellectually qualified to accomplish. 
Wherever he taught, at Montpelier, Burlington, and elsewhere, he 
commanded general, if not universal, respect and confidence. I 
have seen articles from his pen, evincing great reach of thought 
and nice discrimination, and marked by a style, pure and classical, 
elegant and expressive. His intellect qualified him to have filled, 
with honor and success, a Professor's chair, either of science, or the 
classics. It is with regret, that the mind reverts to him ; with re- 
gret, that a man so fitted by native talent to shine and be useful, 
should by impaired health, or untoward circumstances, have failed 
to accomplish no more for himself and the world. 

I come now to the last class of those of whom I purpose to speak; 
those, who have acquired a distinguished reputation, or raised them- 
selves to an elevated position in secular and civil life. 

The first individual, to whom I would direct your minds, is Ralph 
Gowdy, M. D. He was a mere youth, when he finished his Col- 
lege course, not having then half completed his seventeenth year. 
It could hardly be expected, that, in many branches of study, he 
could have been able to compete with those of mature minds. Eut 
he early evinced a decidedly fair capacity of improvement and in 
some branches of study, he made a highly creditable proficiency. 
I recollect, that, for a College exhibition, a Greek Poem was as- 
signed him, as being one of the most accomplished Greek scholars 
in the class ; and that he entertained the audience with his Greek 
hexameters. After receiving his degree in 1819, he went South 
into Georgia as a teacher. In two or three years, he returned 
northward and entered on the study of medicine ; and obtained, in 
regular course, the degree of M. D., at Castleton, in 1824. He, 
at first, established himself in practice at Rutland ; but in 1828 he 
removed to Middlebury. He here soon won his way to a highly 
respectable practice and to the strong confidence of very many of 
the most intelligent members of the community. And his subse- 
quent course was one of steady advancement, both in the estima- 
tion, in which he was held, and in the influence, which he exerted. 



88 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

Such, indeed, was the extent, to which he enjoyed the confidence 
of the public, that he was selected, in 1838 and 1839 to represent 
the town in the State Legislature. He was not distinguished as a 
• public speaker, nor was he prominent in the part, which he took in 
the debates. But, he held a highly respectable place as a member 
of the House. He prepared a Report on the Geological Surrey 
of the State, which he aided essentially, in ensuring the adoption of 
that valuable measure. He also drew up a report on the disposi- 
tion, to be made of the national domain, a question, in which some 
of the older States of the Union have felt no little interest ; a report 
which was highly creditable to his sound views and his public spirit. 
Dr. Gowdy was distinguished by a mild and an amiable temper and 
by a deportment, singularly inoffensive and conciliatory. He was 
exemplary and faithful in the various relations and duties of life. 
When I last saw him, but about a month before his death, and when 
all expectation of prolonged life must have been resigned, he was 
calm and unruffled, awaiting, in apparent patience and hope, his 
final hour. 

The next individual, to whom I would call your attention, is 
Charles G. Haines. He was not young, when he entered Col- 
lege and he had probably been hastily and imperfectly prepared. 
Having made but slight proficiency in them, he had acquired, of 
course, but little fondness for the study of the Latin and Greek 
classics. He directed his attention particularly to history and 
miscellaneous literature. His circumstances may furnish an apol- 
ogy for this course ; but the disadvantages of it were undeniable 
and serious. The study of these works would have aided in giving 
to his style of writing and speaking a correctness and an elegance 
and a terseness and a power, never reached, and which distinguish 
the efforts of the great statesmen and orators of England. Soon 
after leaving College, Mr. Haines went to the city of New York, 
friendless and unknown. But the force of his talents, in connec- 
tion with his laborious, and untiring industry, soon made him known 
to the public. Even before he was admitted to the bar, his pen had 
procured for him a name, which those of riper years might covet. 
He early became a zealous champion of De Witt Clinton's canal 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 



89 



policy, and he enjoyed largely the friendship and patronage of that 
distinguished man. It is probable, that, while the State of New York 
was engaged in executing her great and splendid works of internal 
improvement, the writings of no one tended more effectually to aid 
in carrying them onward to a successful completion. He wrote, 
and wrote ably, on many other topics. His Essays on the expedi- 
ency of abolishing the council of appointment, were strongly marked 
by good sense and political sagacity. His labors in behalf of the 
Society for the prevention of pauperism, give him a title to rank 
among the wisest and the noblest of philanthropists. The sciences 
of government and political economy, attracted strongly his atten- 
tion and occupied much of his time. And although he was an en- 
thusiastic friend and advocate of popular rights, he never maintained 
a principle, or defended a measure, bordering on a licentious lib- 
erty. Time with him was not money ; but a more precious boon. 
He was not sordid, it is said, nor was he avaricious of aught but 
usefulness and fame. He never wasted an hour, it is added, in the 
frivolities and amusements of fashionable life. Aside from his ef- 
forts in behalf of the various philanthropic and charitable Societies, 
and in addition to his purse, his professional services were ever at 
the command of the unfortunate, the oppressed and the suffering. 
" In him," well and emphatically may it be said, " death struck a 
shining mark." — During the brief period of his residence in New 
York, Mr. Haines had so far attracted the notice and won the con- 
fidence of the public, that one of the great political parties selected 
him, as one of its candidates for Congress. If any important ob- 
ject was to be secured, he, as one of a committee to visit the Leg- 
islature, was again and again associated with men of mature years 
and the highest professional standing : such as Josiah Ogden Hoff- 
man, John Wells and' Samuel Jones. He was also entrusted with 
conducting and arguing cases, before the Supreme Court of the 
United States at Washington. An intelligent gentleman, long a 
resident in New York, said to me recently, that no young man, 
whether he had grown up in the midst of the commmiity there, or 
had come among them from abroad, had, within the short season of 
exertion allotted him, made an equal impression on the public mind, 



12 



90 MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

or had secured an equal standing in the public estimation, with Mr. 
Haines. The period for active exertion, enjoyed by him, exceeded 
little, if at all, eight years. His funeral, attended by the members 
of the bar, the military and a large concourse of citizens, was one 
of the most thronged and splendid, ever known in the city. 

Daniel A. A. Buck, who graduated in 1807, was young and 
not remarkable for application to study, while a member of Col- 
lege, and of course, was not eminent for his attainments and posi- 
tion as a scholar. After completing his course in College, he en- 
tered the Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated. 
He was afterwards employed as an officer in the war with England, 
which commenced in 1812 , and, at the conclusion of peace, he left 
the service with the rank of captain. He then entered upon the 
study of law, and at length engaged in practice at the bar. He 
was able, in this situation, so to secure the confidence and good-will 
of the community, in which he resided, that he was, again and a- 
gain, elected a member of the Legislature of this State, of which, 
it is believed, that he was more than once chosen Speaker. He 
has the reputation of having presided over the deliberations of the 
House of Representatives, in a manner, eminently prompt and cor- 
rect, dignified and courteous. But a higher honor awaited him ; 
and he was elected, for one term at least, a member of the House 
of Representatives at Washington. Of his career in Congress, of 
the estimation, in which he was held and of the influence, which 
he exerted ; whether he took an active part in the debates, or re- 
mained mainly silent, I have not had the means of learning. But 
his place was not a prominent one, and he did not secure distinc- 
tion. Of his subsequent history and of his death, which oc- 
curred some years since at Washington, I forbear to speak. 

Rollin C. Mallaky was a member of one of the earliest class- 
es, and graduated in 1805. Such was the reputation, as to talents 
and attainments, which he enjoyed, that he must have ranked, in 
these respects, with the very first in his class. His native capaci- 
ty was unquestioned, and there is abundant testimony, that in the 
classics, he was a thorough and an accomplished scholar. He em- 
barked in the profession of law, and having obtained admission to 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 91 



1 



the bar, soon acquired a high reputation and an extensive practice. 
That he was ever a member of the State Legislature, I am ignor- 
ant ; nor do I know, that he ever held any office of distinction, till, 
in 1818, he was elected, by a very large vote, a member of the 
House of Kepresentatives of the United States. Of his position 
there, of the efforts which he made, and the influence which he 
secured, almost the children of the land must have heard. He 
soon made himself so known for his talents, his industry and his 
extended acquaintance with the subjects entrusted to its investiga- 
tions and action, that he was placed at the head of the Committee 
on Manufactures. Over this committee he presided, for at least 
four years ; and, in one instance, he received his appointment from 
a Speaker, of political views, different from his own. The Com- 
mittee on Manufactures is one of the most important and responsi- 
ble ; and to its inquiries and resolves, the very highest interest and 
moment attach themselves. They have an intimate connection with 
all the great secular interests of the country ; the interests of in- 
dustry and finance, of agriculture and commerce. In their opera- 
tion and results, they come home, either directly, or incidentally, 
to every man's door and fireside in the land, even the humblest and 
the poorest. The duties of this station, so onerous and difficult, 
Mr. Mallary performed with distinguished reputation and success, 
earning for himself an honorable name, meeting the expectations, 
and almost the wishes of his friends, and doing good and acceptable 
service to his country. He became the accredited champion of 
the protective system, as it has been named ; and he vindicated it, 
with great dexterity and force of argument, evincing much skill in 
debate, a wide extent of research, and a large compass and variety 
of knowledge. With the policy, which he advocated, he deemed 
the leading interests of the country intimately allied, and on an ad- 
herence to it, the general welfare as almost vitally dependent. It 
was suited, in his view, to give steady employment and adequate 
rewards to labor, to furnish an ample and a reliable market for the 
productions of agriculture, to avert the hazard of pecuniary revul- 
sions and pressures, and to send a stirring and healthful activity 
through all the channels of business. To the vindication and sup- 



92 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

port of this policy, so auspicious in its tendencies and results, he 
devoted himself with great zeal and fidelity ; and he Secured, if not 
a world-wide, a land-wide reputation, commanding the respect of 
those, whose views were at variance with his, and enjoying the warm 
regard and applause of those, whose opinions were coincident with 
his own. — At the close of the session of Congress, which preceded 
his death, Mr. Mallary was unable from disease and debility, to re- 
turn home, and he only reached Baltimore to expire there. In the 
relations and duties of social and domestic life, he was upright, 
high-minded, generous and exemplary. 

Titus Brown, who graduated in 1811, was a native of Alstead, 
N. H., and closed his days at Francestown in that State, where he 
had spent a large portion of his active life. He prepared for Col- 
lege at a late period and in a hurried manner, and he entered to an 
advanced standing. In his proficiency in the Latin and Greek 
classics, he rose only to mediocrity ; but in other branches of study, 
he ranked among the first scholars in the class. He was an excel- 
lent English scholar, and a sound thinker, and a correct writer, 
when he first joined College. He was particularly fond of legal 
studies, and probably devoted some attention to them, while a mem- 
ber of College, as he was admitted to the bar, at a very early day, 
after receiving his degree. At Alstead, where he first fixed him- 
self in business, he probably had considerable leisure, and he de- 
voted a portion of it to composing an English Grammar. " He 
wrote the whole work out in a fair hand," says a friend of his, 
" and sent it to me for examination. I thought well of it, and I still 
think, that the publication of it at that time, would have brought 
him both credit and cash. But, removing to Francestown and en- 
gaging in an extensive and profitable business, he put himself in 
the way of securing by his profession, more of those valuable com- 
modities, than he had before been master of. He, therefore, threw 
by his Grammar.' ' Such is the language of a most competent judge. 

Mr. Brown was, when in College, an adherent of the democrat- 
ic party in polities ; and he was rather a free-thinker in religion, 
though not openly, and especially not offensively, sceptical. But 
his subsequent life witnessed a revolution in both respects. He so 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 



93 



far swerved from the old type of democracy, that, as a friend of 
John Q. Adams, he was a successful candidate for a seat in Con- 
gress. But he only served out his regular term ; and, partly from 
inclination, having strong domestic attachments, and partly, per- 
haps, from the apprehension, that he could not again be chosen, as 
the tide was turning against his party, he declined ranning for a 
second election. — The list of works on natural and revealed religion, 
studied in College in 1810-11, was meager and inadequate. Among 
them, Butler's Analogy was not comprised. After he left College, the 
study of that profound and invaluable treatise, by God's blessing, 
scattered the sceptical speculations of Mr. Brown, of whatever 
character they were, to the winds ; evincing, that such notions, in- 
stead of being the result of maturity of mind and of a thorough 
examination, are rather to be regarded, as the fruit of an unripe 
intellect, and of superficial and restricted inquiry. He became not 
only a theoretical believer, but a spiritually-minded and devout dis- 
ciple of Christ. After his removal to Francestown, he united with 
the church, and was an active and exemplary member ; and, in ev- 
ery view, a useful man. 

Mr. Brown had from nature, the prominent attributes of the schol- 
ar ; and had he been privileged with an early and a thorough train- 
ing, he might have secured to himself literary distinction. He pos- 
sessed an acute and logical mind, marked by a rare talent for in- 
vestigation, and an unusual capacity of arriving at legitimate and 
sound conclusions, by process of argumentation. He was unques- 
tionably an excellent lawyer, though somewhat deficient in that rap- 
id flow of thought and that ready elocution, so necessary to the 
formation of the effective and popular advocate. Still his practice 
at the bar was extensive and gainful ; and, beyond a doubt, he stood 
high in the estimation of his brethren and of the community. 

The last name, which I have to announce, is that of Silas 
Wright, " clarum et venerabile nomen." The standing of Mr. 
Wright in his class, which was that which graduated in 1815, was 
by no means pre-eminent. Neither of the marked and peculiarly 
honorable appointments, then made for the Commencement exer- 
cises, was assigned to him. He possessed, however, a sound mind, 



94 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

and was a highly correct and thorough scholar. He was distin- 
guished for his proficiency in mathematical science, and natural phi- 
losophy. A classmate has recently remarked, that, if lame in his 
mathematical lesson and in need of assistance, he knew well where 
to apply for help. He early evinced some noble and most desirable 
traits of character. Says a companion in his preparatory studies, 
and an acquaintance in College ; " His frankness, his unbending re- 
gard for truth and his perfectly upright and fair dealing, were not 
only conspicuous, but were proverbial among his associates." Up- 
on leaving College, he commenced the study of law in the village 
of Sandy Hill, and prosecuted it in different offices there, delayed, 
however, by the necessity of teaching in the meanwhile, to procure 
the means of support, till, in 1819, he was admitted an attorney of 
the Supreme Court of the State of New York. In the same year, 
he fixed himself in Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., as his resi- 
dence and the field of his professional labors. The first civil office, 
which he held, was that of Surrogate of St. Lawrence County,, to 
which he was appointed in 1820. This place was conferred on him 
solely in view of his merit, and at the request of the community, 
and not at all from party considerations; as those, by whom it was 
bestowed, were not his political friends. In 1821, he was appointed 
a Justice of the Peace and a Commissioner of Deeds. He also re- 
ceived the office of Post Master and held it till 1827. In 1821-2 
and 3, he was elected Town Clerk, and Inspector of Common Schools. 
The only office, says his biographer, which, with the exception of 
Post Master, he expressed a wish to obtain, was that of Inspector 
of Schools. He also organized an independent rifle company, and 
was chosen Captain. He was afterwards raised to the post of Ma- 
jor and Colonel of a Rifle Regiment. He was also subsequently 
appointed Brigadier General. In his military career, he uniformly 
and especially on one trying occasion, displayed his characteristic 
equanimity. Hence, such was the strong regard felt towards him 
by them, that not a member of the company organized and com- 
manded by him, was ever known to cast a vote against him, when 
a candidate for any elective office. Though thus advanced through 
different grades, up to the rank of General, he ever regarded mili- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 



95 



tary distinction with becoming indifference, and treated military ti- 
tles, with commendable neglect. For, who ever heard of him, as 
having any claim to such a title ? What man ever knew him called 
Colonel or General Wright, or would have been scarcely more sur- 
prised, had he been denominated a Bashaw with three tails ? — Mr. 
Wright, except for the brief period of four years, was little more than 
a visitor at home. During this short interval, he had made a most 
desirable impression on the minds of the community, and had secured 
a strong hold on their regard ; a hold never sundered. His habits 
were plain and his whole demeanor, unambitious and conciliatory. 
He did not appear to seek business, with a view either to profit, or 
distinction ; and he seemed entirely unconscious of his own powers. 
With an air of indolence about him, he was still characterized by 
that strict attention to business, and that rigid punctuality with re- 
gard to what he had to do, which marked his course through life. 
No call, with even the slightest claims upon him, or with no claims 
at all, was ever disregarded. His duties as a magistrate and law- 
yer, were performed to the entire satisfaction of the community. 
And in both characters, it was with him a constant and a prominent 
object, to prevent, or suppress causeless litigation. His aim in his 
legal proceedings, was justice and not victory. Hence, he did not 
spare even his own clients. In a particular case, the characters 
and the conduct of both the parties, had been reprehensible and 
base ; but he regarded his client, as the injured individual. He ex- 
hibited the cause, with its true aspect, not exercising forbearance 
even towards him, whom he was called to defend. When a verdict 
had been rendered, in reply to the expressions of resentment, ut- 
tered by his client, at what he deemed the unkind and improper 
treatment, which he had received, Mr. Wright said : " My dear sir, 
your course in this whole transaction has been so unworthy ; and 
is seen and felt by the Court and jury to be so reprehensible, that 
had I palliated it in the least, you would have lost your cause. My 
abhorrence of conduct such as yours, is like that of every reflect- 
ing and right minded man. I hope, that you will learn from the 
disclosures of this day, not to place yourself again in a position, so 
embarrassing and painful." Here is a model lawyer for you, gen- 



96 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

tlemen of the bar ! — Soon after lie commenced the practice of law, 
it was perceived, that he excelled others in the examination of wit- 
nesses. His questions were adapted to the capacity of the person, 
to whom they were addressed ; and he was sure to draw out distinct- 
ly and fully, all which the witness knew. He was also distinguished 
for the ability, with which he brought clearly into view, its strong 
points, and laid open to a jury the intricacies of a difficult cause. 
In the intercourse of life, Mr. Wright was accessible to all, and his 
manners were familiar and bland. He soon became to those around 
him, on almost all subjects, a sort of oracle. He was highly sus- 
ceptible of sympathy with those in distress, and he was attentive 
and helpful to the sick, often walking miles to watch by their bed- 
sides. He never forgot an old, and he never slighted an humble 
friend. 

Mr. Wright carried with him, when he left New England, the 
veneration for the Sabbath and the institutions of religion, which 
he had been taught at his father's fireside. Before a clergyman 
was established at Canton, religious worship was regularly main- 
tained, the deacons of the church performing the devotional part of 
the services, and Mr. Wright reading the sermon ; and this practice 
was kept up, whenever circumstances required it, as long as he 
lived. He and another gentleman conveyed a piece of ground of 
four acres, to the Presbyterian Society in Canton, on one acre of 
which they directed, that a church and a parsonage should be erec- 
ted. The residue was to be reserved to form a public square. His 
manners and habits of life, were marked by a high degree of re- 
publican plainness and simplicity. He never possessed any wheel- 
carriage, besides an ox-wagon and a wheel barrow ; and this was 
mainly trundled by himself. The only horse, that he ever owned, 
was, in early life, the gift of his father. Safely may I challenge 
for him, the honor of having been the Cincinnatus of America. 

In 1823, Mr. Wright was elected a member of the State Senate. 
Of the 200 votes polled in the town of Canton, 199 were given for 
him, and the scattering vote was doubtless cast by himself. In his 
Senatorial career, he was guilty of two capital mistakes. One was 
giving his vote, to withhold from the people, the choice of Presiden- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 97 



tial Electors ; and the other, going for the removal of De Witt 
Clinton from the office of Canal Commissioner. These two meas- 
ures, in which he concurred, effected a political revolution in the 
State ; prostrated the party, to which ' Mr. Wright belonged, and 
brought in Mr. Clinton as Governor, by an overwhelming majority, 
and secured a decided preponderance of his friends in the Legisla- 
ture. His advocates and apologists, vindicate or excuse, Mr. 
Wright, on the ground, that his error, if it was an error, arose from 
his uniform devotion to the interests of his party, on the ascendency 
of which, he sincerely believed, depended the prosperity of the 
country. Hence, he made it his uniform rule to regulate his con- 
duct by the decision of a majority of his party. Says a warm 
friend and admirer : " He was a great man and an honest man. 
If he committed errors, they were induced by devotion to the in- 
terests of his party. He was not selfish ; to him his party was ev- 
erythin g ; himself, nothing." In 1827, he was elected a member 
of Congress. In the House, he was placed on the Committee on 
Manufactures, and, having a majority of his political friends, was 
the actual, though not the nominal, chairman of the committee ; and 
he was able, in various respects, to counteract the efforts and to 
thwart the plans of Mr. Mallary and those, who coincided with him 
in opinion. In 1829, he was appointed to the arduous and respon- 
sible office of Comptroller of the State of New York. For the dis- 
charge of the duties of this office, judgment, industry, vigilance 
and integrity are indispensable qualifications. As to his official 
conduct, in this station, I know not, that the voice of censure, or 
complaint, or even of suspicion was ever raised. In 1833, when 
in his thirty-eighth year, he was chosen a member of the Senate of 
the United States. Entering a body composed of so many men of 
distinction, his superiors in age and experience, it would not be sur- 
prising, if a sense of the difficulties to be met, were impressed up- 
on his mind. But though modest, he was not distrustful of himself; 
and he did not forego exertions to meet the claims of duty. Impor- 
tant questions were before the Senate, and to these he directed his 
earnest attention. Such was the confidence, which he had secured 

and such was the estimation, in which he was held, that, in 1836, 

13 



98 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



he was appointed Chairman of one of the most important and re- 
sponsible of the Committees, the Committee on Finance. In 1837, 
he was, the second time elected to the Senate ; and again, in 1848, 
he was chosen for a third term. In 1844, he was nominated to a 
seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States ; but 
declined the honor. In 1844, he was elected Governor of the State 
of New York. In 1845, the place of Secretary of the Treasury 
was tendered him, and refused. In 1846, he is, a second time, a 
candidate for election as Governor of New York, and is unsuccess- 
ful. This was the first failure, to which he had been subjected in a 
popular election. It was caused by a combination of circumstances, 
and not by any feelings of hostility towards himself, or by any want 
of personal popularity. He received the news of his defeat, with 
the equanimity of a philosopher ; I might almost say, with the 
calmness of a saint. He returned soon, and in the most humble 
and unpretending way, to his early home, to leave it no more, and 
soon to die. Of his condition there he himself writes : " Were I to 
attempt to tell you how happy we make ourselves at our retired situa- 
tion, I fear you would scarcely be able to credit me. I even yet rea- 
lize, more and more, every day and hour, the relief from public cares 
and perplexities and responsibilities, and if any thought about tempor- 
al affairs could make me more uneasy, than another, it would be the 
serious one, that I was again to take upon myself, in any capacity, 
that ever-pressing load. I am not, however, troubled with any such 
thoughts ; and am only, occasionally, a little vexed, that I am con- 
stantly suspected of cherishing further vain and unreasonable am- 
bition." His death was a stunning stroke to multitudes, in every 
section of the country ; and it produced almost universal sorrow and 
lamentation. His discriminating and vigorous intellect rendered 
him competent for any station and adequate to any emergency. 
His standing in the Senate was unequivocally at the head of the po- 
litical party, to which he was attached. His power in debate was 
undisputed ; and his worth as a man and a statesman were matters 
of frank admission and of warm eulogy, with even his political op- 
ponents. One, who had thoroughly studied his character, says of 
him : " His candor, his integrity of purpose, his unaffected modesty, 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 99 

his disinterestedness, his general benevolence and patriotism were 
apparent in his public and private life. He was gifted with an un. 
common perception of the fitting and graceful, in all conditions and 
relations. While he had a high respect for the plebeian and could, 
as occasion occurred, put on the plebeian, himself, there was no cir- 
cle, so polished, that he was not as much at home in it, as if it had 
been the onlj sphere, in which he had ever moved." As to all pe- 
cuniary transactions, Mr. Wright was above reproach and above sus- 
picion. We never find him urging claims for extra allowances, nor 
attempting to obtain from the public the last cent, for which he could 
devise a plausible pretext. He was frank and undisguised, in avow- 
ing his sentiments and purposes. In his letter, in reply to the in- 
vitation, given him, to attend the Chicago Convention, " circum- 
stances " did not prevent his committing himself to particular opin- 
ions and to a definite line of action. He had risen high, and had 
had honors showered upon him ; and only the highest honor, which 
if he had lived, was certain to have been his, had not been reached. 

But, who will say, that Mr. Wright was a stranger to errors, and 
that he had not his faults ? In his Congressional career, he, at 
times, gives some slight; indications of cunning and artifice, and of 
the school of politics, in which he had been trained ; reputed — though 
all are bad — one of the most unscrupulous in the land. Eut I am 
glad that I have reason to believe, that, as he advanced in life, he 
had less about him, which wore the semblance of a political schemer, 
and that he took larger views and adopted purer and nobler and 
more patriotic aims. It is also with no ordinary satisfaction, that 
I have had the assurance furnished me, that, for months before his 
death, he had entirely cast off the dominion of a habit, which had 
been a source of pain and regret to his friends, and ground for re- 
proach and obloquy from his opponents. 

His principle of yielding his judgment and conscience to the 
keeping of his party, and in accordance with it, submitting to self- 
sacrifice to secure the election of Mr. Polk, as President of the 
United States, reluctantly as it was done and only to meet the wish- 
es of his friends, and at their urgent solicitations, was wrong and 
reprehensible. The guilt of mistaken and noxious principles, and 



100 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



of profligate measures, comes home, as certainly and as fully, to 
each one of the largest and the mightiest combination, as if he were 
the only individual concerned. We cannot cast off personal respon- 
sibility, by alleging, in vindication of ourselves, that we have but 
acted at the instigation, or in compliance with the wishes, or in- 
treaties of others. Pilate could wash his hands and exclaim : " I 
am innocent of the blood of this just person ; see ye to it ;" but he 
could not thus remove the stain of guilt from his soul, when, in sub- 
serviency to Jewish malice and clamors, he gave up to their cruel- 
ty the Prince of life. Knowing and condemning the object of Mr. 
Polk's nomination, to buttress up and perpetuate and extend an In- 
stitution, the shame and reproach and curse of the land, an outrage 
on right and humanity, and at war with the spirit and laws of reli- 
gion, he should have declined all co-operation, even the most remote 
and incidental, in effecting his elevation. He should have regarded 
it, as a less grievous evil, that Henry Clay should have filled the 
Presidential chair, than Texas Annexation, with the fearful train of 
calamities, its sure and sad results. And had not Silas Wright 
been the candidate for the office of Governor of New York, James 
K. Polk had never been President of the United States. 

The review of Mr. Wright's life teaches us some great lessons. 

The eager desire of office and the scramble for place and power 
is folly. Cincinnatus was happier behind his plough, than when 
leading the triumphant legions of Home ; and he was nobler too. 
And Silas Wright found a brighter and a sunnier day, amidst the 
shades of retirement, than in the halls of legislation, or in the Ex- 
ecutive mansion. And how often is a straitened and an embar- 
rassed manhood and a penniless old age, the lot of the political as- 
pirant ? Think not, then, of office as the road to competence, or 
wealth, or happiness. And let office seek you, and not you, office 
and honors. 

How striking an example we have in Mr. Wright, of the auspi- 
cious operation of our political system ? Here is a man, who rises, 
if not from an abject condition, yet from ordinary life, and, without 
wealth, without powerful connexions and without any advantages, 
which every youth may not possess, attains high and elevated sta- 



ADDRESS OF DR. HOUGH. 101 

tions, and had obviously, within his reach, the highest and the no- 
blest, when death intercepted his elevation. There is not now, and 
never has there been, a country, where a more inviting field was 
set open to talents and enterprise. But " the paths of glory lead 
but to the grave." And the notes of applause and the trump of 
fame charm not the dull ears of the slumberers there. And human 
admiration and the meed of renown affect not the high and eternal 
destinies of our future and undying life. 

In view of what I have brought before you, and in view of what 
this momentous occasion, so fraught with a thrilling and delightful 
interest, must suggest, to us all, who can doubt whether this Col- 
lege has done some good service ; some good service to the interests 
of learning and religion ; some good service for the church and the 
world ? And is the measure of good, which it is to achieve, filled 
up ? Or, from this auspicious day, shall a brighter and a more 
beneficent career be begun ? The great Latin Poet pronounced the 
Roman Commonwealth, " Felix prole virum." And who can for- 
bear earnestly desiring, that, like her, this Seminary may be for 
ages, the blessed mother of a race of heroes ? Not heroes to stain 
with blood the field of carnage ; but heroes, in a nobler and a peace- 
ful strife ; heroes to fight the battles of the Lord ; heroes to war a- 
gainst ignorance and error and sin ; against oppression and wrong 
and woe ; and heroes to aid in speeding onward the triumphs of 
truth and mercy, of love and joy, till all the kindreds of the earth 
shall be reached, and the humblest habitation of the lowliest of 
the race shall be visited and blessed. 



it 



m 



PKOCEEDINGS AT THE DIIIER. 



THE -DINNEE 



After the exercises at the church had been concluded, the pro- 
cession again formed and moved to the Dinner Pavilion, in the or- 
der of classes. Many ladies and citizens were congregated at the 
booth, and participated in the enjoyments of the table. 

Officers of the Table. 
Hoy. A. W. BUEL, President. 

E. D. Barber, Esq., Dr. B. L. Wales, 

Joshua Bates, Jr., Esq., David B. Tower, Esq., 

Vice Presidents. 



The Divine Blessing was invoked by the Rev. Luther Sheldon, 
of the class of 1808. After justice had been done to the viands of 
the table, Hon. Alex. W. Buel, Vice President of the Society of 
the Associated Alumni, and President of the day, arose and said : 
Gentleman of the Alumni : — You have now had the feast of ap- 
petite ; upon another occasion to-day, you had the c feast of reason,' 
and you are now about to be served with the l flow of soul.' Your 
attention is invited to a series of regular toasts, which have been 
prepared for the occasion by the Committee of Arrangements, and 
which will be read by Philip Battell, Esq. 

Mr. Battell then announced the first regular toast : — 



I. 



" The occasion ive celebrate : 

" Eapiamus amici 
Occasioned de die ; dumque virent genua 
Et decet, obducta solvatur fronte senectus." 
14 






106 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

II. Alma Mater : — " Non si male nunc et olim 

Sic erifc. 

Non semper idem noribus est honor 

Vernis, neque uno Luna rubens nitet 

Vultu." 

Rev. Dr. Stephen Olin, of Middletown, Conn., of the class of 

1820, was called to respond, but excused himself for the reason 

that the state of his health imperatively required him to be silent. 

III. " The Founders of Middlebury College-. 

While preparing the wilderness for a free home, they did not 
neglect to lay the foundation for the acquisition of that 
knowledge, without which Liberty is unattainable, or if at- 
tainable, cannot be preserved." 

To this sentiment the Hon. D. P. Thompson, of Montpelier, of 
the class of 1820, responded as follows : 
Mr. President : 

To the just and appropriate sentiment we have just heard, I 
rise to respond with peculiar emotions. 

About thirty years ago, a poor, untutored, unfriended boy, who 
had never seen books but in visions, whose almost every merit, in- 
deed consisted in 

" The dream'the thirst, the wild desire, 
Delirious, yet divine — to know r — 

found his way out of the woods to Middlebury College. And du- 
ring his residence here, having been inured to the active habits, 
which a boyhood life on a farm in a new part of the country natur- 
ally engender, and which cannot at once be thrown off ; and being, 
withal, an enthusiastic admirer of nature in her more undisturbed 
retreats, he wandered, in his vacations and leisure days, over nearly 
every square mile of the surrounding region from the third Falls 
of the Otter upwards, to its mouth downwards, — from the margin 
of the beautiful Champlain, westward, to the summits of the 
towering Green Mountains, eastward, pausing, in his solitary rap- 
ture, over its picturesque scenes of hill and dale, lake and river, 
and taking mental daguerreotypes of them all. 

These, in after days, gradually grouped themselves around the 
seat of the Alma Mater, which had made him intellectually what he 
was, — which had drawn to itself his fond and clustering associations 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 107 

and which, therefore, became the bright centre-piece of a thus cu- 
riously composed ideal picture. 

The impresses of such scenes, — drawn by the glowing pencil of 
youthful fancy upon the fresh, unvexed ground-work of youthful 
feeling, and kept bright by such associations, — are prone to occupy 
a prominent place in the mind of the maturer man, to be constant- 
ly struggling up to the light, and forcing themselves upon the view 
of others. They did so, at least, in his case ; and in subsequently 
devoting his leisure to the composition of a literary work, illustra- 
tive of the Revolutionary action and early settlement of his own 
loved Vermont, he laid the scene in this section of the country ; 
because, while his general purposes would be equally well thus sub- 
served, it would afford him, besides the advantages of eye drawn 
description, an opportunity — a gratifying opportunity, to bring out 
many of his long cherished pictures. And in following the chain 
of his partially assumed events from place to place in the rounds of 
his former rambles, he came at length to the site of the future 
Middlebury ; when pausing, in fancy, on yon commanding swell 
destined to be crowned by the proud and enduring marble pile em- 
blematic of the honor and permanency of the institution nestling 
within its walls, — when pausing thus, and pondering on what that spot 
was, — on what it has since become, — what it had been to him, and 
what great and benign influences it had scattered abroad through 
and upon thousands of others in the land, he, in the fullness of 
feeling, exclaimed : 

" 0, if there be a town in Vermont, whose first set of inhabit- 
ants deserved the appellation of high-minded and worthy, it was 
the early settlers of Middlebury. Distinguished from their first 
pitch on the fertile banks of the Otter, for enterprise, firmness and 
intelligence, they were among the foremost to resist the aggressions 
of a government, which, unwittingly, perhaps, had lent itself to aid 
the unprincipled scheme of a few rapacious land speculators ; while 
the opening scenes of the Revolution found them ready to engage, 
with the same alacrity, and with the best of their means, in the 
greater work of achieving the independence of their whole country. 
And scarcely had the storm of war passed over, and the sun-light 
of peace begun to break in on their infant settlement, before they 
united, with a zeal as extraordinary, considering their means and 
circumstances, as it was commendable, in rearing, by private mu- 



108 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

nificence alone, a collegiate institution, which, for many succeed- 
ing years, did more towards elevating the moral and literary char- 
acter of Vermont than any one cause operating within her borders. 
And her Alumni, now many of them in eminence at the bar, and 
in the pulpit, and found gracing, not only every station in their own 
favored country, from the humble school room to the Senate cham- 
ber of the nation, but nobly dispensing her light among the people 
of every clime upon the face of the broad earth, whether, in the 
fearless and enterprising spirit of their fathers they have scattered 
themselves, — now to teach the arts to the boorish Russ or besotted 
Turk, — now to assist the enslaved Greek, or South American, in his 
struggles for freedom, and now to rear the standard of the Cross 
among the degraded Pagans of the East, — her grateful Alumni, of- 
ten, often, turn back, in fancy, to their beloved Alma Mater, 
1 To linger delighted o'er scenes recall'd there,' 

and admire, and bless the noble and self-sacrificing spirit of Pain- 
ter, Chipman, Miller, Storrs, Matthews and others of her munificent 
founders, who made themselves poor in pecuniary estate, that they 
might make the children of their country rich in knowledge. "* 

Mr. President ; What the writer then said in a nameless work, and 
under the garb of fiction, he now, standing before you, in proper 
person, repeats as fact and presents as a picture of truthfulness 
and feeling ; as a just tribute to high desert, and, in connection 
with his own personal history, as a practical encomium on the good- 
ness, wisdom and patriotism of the Founders of Middlebury Col- 
lege, to whose names belongs more " honest fame" than to those of 

all the military heroes, 

"From Macedonia's madman to the Swede." 

IV. " The Early Settlers of Vermont ." 

Encompassed by enemies, they were never conquered ; beset by 
evils they were always undaunted ; forsaken by friends, they 
forsook not themselves ; the State whose independence they 
secured, is the monument of their labors and the children to 
whom they left it, rise up and call them blessed." 

Hon. William Slade, of Middlebury, of the class of 1807, 
responded and said : 

Mr. President :— VThe early settlers of Vermont may well oc- 
cupy our thoughts on an occasion like the present. A more truth- 
ful and pertinent description of their condition and character, than 

*Green Mountain Boys. 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DIXXER. 



109 



that of the sentiment just announced, cannot well be given. " En- 
compassed by enemies — beset by evils — forsaken by friends." All 
this is written on every page of their eventful history. No other 
State of our Union has sprung into being amidst such a storm of 
opposition, as was encountered by the men who achieved the inde- 
pendence of Vermont. A powerful neighboring State claimed the 
jurisdiction, and the right of soil, of the " New Hampshire Grants," 
—of territory purchased, and paid for, by these " early settlers," 
and rightfully claimed by them as their own. The struggle which 
followed is familiar to us all. In its progress, it developed the char- 
acter which has rendered the name of the " Green Mountain Boys " 
immortal. Its strong points were sound common sense — a keen 
perception of the right — promptness of action — calm, steady cour- 
age — tenacity of purpose, and unfaltering perseverance. They 
" knew their rights, and knowing, dared maintain" them. The 
sense of personal right never took stronger hold of the mind of any 
people. The idea of yielding to mere power, seemed never to have 
entered into their conceptions. Planting themselves on the ground 
of their rights, they stood there " undaunted," — firm as the moun- 
tains which towered around them, and whose name they nobly won 
the title to wear. To know their true character is to know why 
" they were never conquered." Such a people cannot, because they 
will not, be conquered. To die is not to be conquered. 

There was Ethan Allen, — a specimen of these men. I can 
never pass the fort at Ticonderoga, without seeming to see him 
struggling up that rugged precipice, at the head of his small band 
of kindred spirits, early in the morning of the 10th of May, 1775, 
and, on passing into the fort, and being interrogated as to his au- 
thority for the unwelcome intrusion, giving the memorable and char- 
acteristic reply, — " By the authority of the great Jehovah and the 
Continental Congress." That was the true Green Mountain spir- 
it. To fear, Allen was a stranger. The right ! — The right ! That 
filled his mind, as it did the minds of all his compatriots, of Green 
Mountain memory. 

And what a recognition ! What an appeal ! First of all, to the 
great Jehovah, — the fountain of all right, — the Being whose grant 



110 MIDDLEBUBY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



was, at a subsequent period, demanded by a Vermont judge, as in- 
dispensable to constitute a valid title to a claimed slave. Whatev- 
er might have been Ethan Allen's precise conceptions as to this Su- 
preme Power, thus recognized and appealed to, he expressed a sen- 
timent which nerved the energies of the wonderful men of that 
period in Vermont's history. Recognizing that Source of rightful 
authority and power, they would not be likely to yield to fear, what 
was attempted to be extorted from them by mere force. And then, 
there was that other appeal, — the Continental Congress — the right- 
ful human authority, in Allen's conceptions touching the matter 
then in hand. 

Here was brought into striking and impressive combination the 
great fundamental principles of the Supreme authority of the great 
Jehovah, and the subordinate authority of " the powers that be," 
ordained of Him. He ordains no oppression ; and hence Allen 
and his compatriots stood, with conscious strength, upon the founda- 
tion of the true " Divine right," shadowed forth in the self-govern- 
ment, — though a somewhat anomalous one, — of which the occasion 
forced them to make an experiment, — an experiment which, under 
the guiding hand of a favoring Providence, proved so triumphant- 
ly successful in the establishment of the State, which the sentiment 
just announced, declares to be " the monument of their labors," 
and for which " their children rise up and call them blessed." 

It was to such men that this State owed its existence. It was 
born in their image, ancl baptized with their spirit : a spirit which 
has given character to its institutions, civil, religious and literary. 
It remains for the children who have risen up to call these fathers 
blessed, to cherish their spirit, that it may be transmitted, unim- 
paired, to the generations of the future. 

It is a source of just and honest pride in the friends and patrons 
of Middlebury College that her sons have, with so few exceptions, 
carried into practical life the vigorous, energetic, courageous, per- 
severing spirit which characterized the early settlers of this State. 
Our mother may well be proud of Jtier children, ancl the State, of 
that mother. Almost every quarter of the globe has felt their in- 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNEE. Ill 



fluence, — the influence of sound, practical, energetic, working men; 
and that, in greater proportion, it is confidently believed, than can 
be found among the graduates of any other College in the land. 

And why this result ? Let the world hear the true answer. 
Middlebury College is a legitimate child of the Green Mountain 
State. Its Legislature gave her existence, and its best blood flows 
in her veins. Her early patrons and benefactors, — the men who 
gathered around, and sustained her, in her infancy, — giving direc- 
tion to her early government, and shaping her subsequent destiny, 
— such men as Painter and Chipman, Miller, Storrs and 
Matthews, were noble specimens of the energy, sagacity, common 
sense, sound practical wisdom, and high-toned moral principle of 
the men of the Green Mountain State, as, amidst storm and tem- 
pest, trial and conflict, she struggled into being. 

Such is the source to which Middlebury College owes her ori- 
gin, and from which she has drawn the elements of her life. That 
her sons have felt the invigorating influence of such a transmitted 

CD O 

life, none can doubt who will follow them to India, to Africa, to the 
Islands of the Ocean, and to the various stations of responsibility 
and influence which they have occupied, and are occupying, in our 
own country. 

And now the question comes home to us, — Shall the streams from 
this fountain be dried up ? To this question the voices of the sons 
of our noble, and prolific mother will respond a decisive and united 
Nay. Middlebury College must live. This fountain must be kept 
full and pure. Vermont needs this College, because the world 
needs it, — for it needs just such men as Vermont has sent forth 
from these halls. And it will have them, if the administration of 
the College shall be in strong and living sympathy with the people 
of the State, and her sons shall continue to find here, a genial soil, 
to nurture them to the maturity of a sturdy and vigorous manhood. 

This College must be a Vermont College. It must bear the "im- 
age and superscription " of the Green Mountain State. It must 
be true to its origin. The blood of the " early settlers " must 
course through its veins. Their simplicity and directness of pur- 
pose, — their liberal spirit, — their common sense, — their contempt 



1.12 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

of the glitter of wealth, — their ready patronage of honest, un- 
pretending merit, — and their devotion to the true, the just and the 
right, must be elements in its general administration, its immediate 
government, and its course of instruction, so marked and promi- 
nent, as to impress themselves, strongly, upon the mental and mor- 
al character of the young men who shall continue to go forth from 
these halls. The world has felt the influence of Vermont through 
this College. That influence ought to be yet more widely felt. It 
can be. It must be. It will be. This College — I repeat it — must 
live. — And it will live. It has done too much good to be forgot- 
ten, and left to languish, by a discerning and liberal public. Above 
all, will it, we trust, live in the continued favor of Him, who hears 
prayer, — who can give wisdom to its counsels, energy to its efforts, 
friends to its necessities, and the triumph of a still more exalted 
name, and a wider and yet more beneficent influence to this child 
of the Green Mountain State. 

Mr. Slade concluded with the sentiment : 

The dependence of our good Mother upon her children : 

If they cannot all give her, liberally, of the silver and the 
gold she needs, they may give her good advice and cheer- 
in a 1 words, and labor to bring others within the maternal 
influence which has so much contributed to make them 
what they are. If they would help give the world, 
what it so much needs, — a race of vigorous, energetic, work- 
ing, persevering, self-sacrificing, and thoroughly educated 
men, let them send the boys here. 

V. " Our Benefactors : 

May our College be perpetuated in a manner worthy the sac- 
rifices by which it was originated and commensurate, with 
the generosity and confidence of those who have endowed it." 

President Labaree replied to this sentiment as follows : 
Mr. President : — This call upon me for a speech is most unex- 
pected ; and I am sure the fatigue, occasioned by the cares, duties 
and exciting interest of the last three days, will be a sufficient apol- 
ogy for not attempting to occupy the attention- of an assembly so 
intelligent and so full of expectation. There are other reasons why 
I should not consume your time. This audience, I well know, is 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 113 

waiting somewhat impatiently to listen to the harmonious numbers 
and sparkling wit of our Green Mountain bard. Besides, I have 
learned with very great pleasure, that the Alumni present, have 
taken incipient measures towards the relief and endowment of their 
Alma Mater, and I am quite unwilling to consume time that may be 
necessary to mature plans for the accomplishment of an object so 
desirable. Still, Mr. President, my feelings impel me strongly to 
say a word respecting the benefactors of Middlebury College. For 
their liberality and their generous sympathy we owe them a deep 
debt of gratitude, and they must by no means be forgotten on this 
half-century jubilee. 

And who, Sir, are the benefactors of Miclcllehury College ? We 
have heard the names of Painter, Miller, Chipman, Storrs, Hunt 
and Warren ; they were the founders or the more liberal patrons 
of the College, and posterity will bless their memories. They knew 
what it is to make sacrifices, to practise self-denial, in the work of 
benevolence. I am informed that some of them made themselves 
poor, in their endeavors to establish an Institution for the benefit of 
the people. Noble-minded men, they richly deserve and they shall 
freely receive our admiration, our respect and our warmest grati- 
tude. 

But, sir, there are other benefactors of Middlebury College ; they 
are confined to no class of society, to no condition in life. The 
rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the city mer- 
chant and the country farmer, the inhabitants of the valley and the 
dwellers unon the mountain, have placed their names on the list of 
its patrons. The people, sir, the people are the benefactors of this 
College. I have been among them to solicit aid for it, and often 
have been deeply affected to witness the interest they manifest in 
its prosperity. I will state a fact or two, Mr. President. I called 
on a Yermonter in the State of New York, and represented the 
wants of the College, and before I left him, he had placed upon my 
paper the generous sum of one thousand dollars. It gives me great 
pleasure to see that gentleman present with us to-day.* An agent 
for College endowments is seldom cheered by subscriptions like that, 



* Allen Penfield, Esq., of Crown Point, N. Y.—Pub. 

15 



114 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

yet his feelings are sometimes affected by much smaller sums. On 
one of the bleak hills of Vermont, I called, by advice, on the aged 
widow of a revolutionary soldier. She had known and loved Mid- 
dlebury College in her youth, and it was still dear to her heart. 
Having heard my message she asked a few questions, and to my 
great surprise, subscribed one hundred dollars. In another place, 
a widow, who gains a livelihood by the diligent use of her needle, 
pledged fifty dollars. And now sir, as I am speaking of widows, 
I must relate a short story about the widow Smith. In one of the 
fertile valleys of Rutland County, I made an agent's call upon a 
gentleman, who promptly responded to my application, and as I was 
about to leave, informed me that a widow resided in his family, who 
felt a deep interest in Middlebury College, but whose pecuniary 
means were very limited. I was introduced to the lady, and she 
desired me to accept the widow's mite ; she emptied her purse ; the 
contents amounted to fifty-three cents. — I must not omit to mention 
that some of the ladies of Middlebury have recently made a hand- 
some donation of books to our College library. Now, Mr. Presi- 
dent, I move you that our gallant toast-master be instructed to a- 
mend the sentiment just offered, by placing after " benefactors," 
the words, " and benefactresses." 

There is another class of citizens who deserve to be ranked among 
the prominent benefactors of the College. I mean our Clergymen. 
In the language of an agent in the older times, I can say of them : 
" For to their power, I bear record, yea and beyond their power 
they were willing of themselves." — On the subscription of twenty- 
five thousand dollars, recently obtained, I have the names of sixty 
ministers of the gospel, who subscribed on an average one hundred 
dollars each. 

But, sir, I perceive that I am in danger of making a speech, 
and I will merely add, that if all the friends of the College were 
animated by a similar spirit of benevolence, the Institution would 
be placed at once beyond the reach of ordinary adversity. 

VI. " Our Ex-Presidents : 

The position which the College attained, during their respec- 
tive administrations, is undeniable evidence of the faithful- 
\ ness with which they administered." 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 115 

Dr. Bates arose, in the midst of great applause, and said : 
Mr. President : — As my venerable predecessors, are both ab- 
sent, (I suppose necessarily, on account of the infirmities of old age) 
I rise to respond to the call of your Committee, and reciprocate the 
kind sentiments of the call. — It was, Sir, with some reluctance, 
that I yielded to the solicitations of the Committee of Arrange- 
ments, to meet the Alumni of Middlebury College, and address 
them, as I have already done to-day, as well as I could, on the sub- 
ject assigned me. This reluctance, however, did not arise from any 
want of affection for those, with whom I had been so intimately con- 
nected, nor from a disregard to the interests of this beloved institu- 
tion ; but from an apprehension, that I should not be able to bear 
manfully the pressure of those melancholy recollections and excited 
emotions, which I knew the occasion would bring with it ; and so to 
treat of the subject assigned me, as to meet the expectations of my 
friends, and subserve the high interests of the College. But, Sir, 
I am glad, that I yielded. I am glad, that I am here. The oc- 
casion thus far, has been to me, one of almost unmingled joy ; for 
even the melancholy recollections, which have occasionally come 
over my mind, have come combined with such soothing influences, 
as to turn them into joyous reminiscences. The kind manner, 
in which I have been greeted by so many of my former pupils and 
other early friends and associates, together with the evidence, brought 
before me, of the continued usefulness and brightening prospects 
of the College, has overcome and in a great measure dissipated my 
fearful apprehensions and sad forebodings. Indeed, the day, the 
occasion, and all the exercises connected with the Annual Com- 
mencement and the Semi-Centennial Celebration, have afforded me 
the highest satisfaction. I was pleased with the literary perform- 
ances of the young men, who this year finished their Collegial course 
and received the honors of the institution ; because the? gave us 
such evidence of a thorough training and correct discipline, intel- 
lectual and moral. Especially was I pleased with the simplicity 
and manliness of their compositions and speaking, — that they spoke 
in the Anglo-Saxon language, using common words in their common 
and obvious meaning ; so that we could all understand them, with- 



116 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

out being interpenetrated or furnished with a transcendental power 
of apperception , or even needing the aid of the reason, which nev- 
er reasons ; but which at once concretes the abstract and abstracts 
the concrete; which comprehends ike absolute, as readily and 
completely as the relative ; which involves the finite in the infinite, 
and sees the infinite everywhere and at every instant in the finite. 
I rejoice, that the Faculty of the College, most of whom I have 
long known, as beloved pupils, are so well united in their efforts 
and so firm in their purpose, to sustain the good old system of study 
and discipline. Especially, I rejoice, that my worthy successor iu 
office, whom I have but imperfectly known, till to-day, has given us 
on this occasion such proof of his high qualifications for his respon- 
sible office. More especially, you may well suppose, I rejoice to 
learn, that he adheres so firmly to that system of instruction and 
discipline, which I have advocated to-day ; and which, I believe, to 
be essential to the production of sound scholars, — to that mode of 
philosophical inquiry and teaching, which alone can lead to truth, 
establish general principles, and maintain a pure christian faith. — I 
rejoice, likewise, to see so large a number of the Alumni of the 
College, of almost every class, gathering around their Alma Ma- 
ter, and spreading over her the shield of protection. — Sir, I shall 
go home, rejoicing in hope ; feeling assured, that the institution is 
safe, under the care and with the continued blessing of that Provi- 
dence, which founded it, and which has hitherto smiled upon it. 

And now, Sir, I have only to repeat to you and your associates, 
the affectionate " farewell," already pronounced, to-day ; or rather 
I may say to you and to them, in language familiar to most of them: 

" Denique, Carissimi Alumni, valete ; iterumque dico, valete I" 

The following letter from Rev. Dr. Atwater, the first President 
of the College was next read. 

New Haven, Ct., Aug. 12, 1850. 

Gentlemen : — I owe you many thanks for your very respectful 

invitation, to be present at the next Commencement of Middlebury 

College. I have ever taken a deep interest in the welfare of that 

Institution, and should be highly gratified, on many accounts, to 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 117 



witness the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of its organi- 
zation. But of this pleasure I am obliged to deny myself, on ac- 
count of my advanced age and infirmities. 

Very respectfully, Yours, 

Jeremiah Atwater. 
Messrs. H. Eaton, E. D. Barber, P. Battell. 

The following letter from President Davis was then read : 

Cllnton, N. Y., Aug. 8, 1850. 

Messrs. H. Eaton, E. D. Barber, P. Battell, Com. $c. 

Gentlemen : — For your kind and cordial invitation to attend 
the approaching Jubilee of Middlebury College, be pleased to ac- 
cept my sincere thanks. There is no other Seminary in whose 
prosperity I shall ever feel a more lively and deeper interest, as 
long as I am a dweller on earth. It would give me great pleasure 
to be with you and your associates on the occasion alluded to ; but 
the state of my health places it totally beyond my power. 

Truly and respectfully, Yours, 

Henry Davis. 
VII. " Our Ex-Professors : 
We have laid them on the shelf, — but we have them by heart." 

This sentiment was enthusiastically cheered, and loud cries for 
Prof. Hough were raised throughout the pavilion ; after some hesi- 
tation Dr. Hough rose, and when the tumult had somewhat sub- 
sided, excused himself from making another speech, as he said 
he had already drawn very fully upon their time and patience. 
He concluded with a sentiment expressive of the deepest interest 
in the College, and in his former pupils. 

VIII. " The Corporation : 

We honor them for their labors and their worth." 

Hon. Peter Starr, of Middlebury, being called for unexpect- 
edly, declined to make any remarks, save to express the thanks of 
the Corporation for the compliment, and to assure the Alumni of 
the heartfelt satisfaction the Trustees felt, in being permitted to 
meet so many of the ^graduates, under such favorable auspices ; 
and concluded with the confident opinion that the measure of good 
for Middlebury College was yet to be filled. 



118 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

IX. " The Faculty : 

Our respect commends them to the love of our successors." 

Prof. William H. Parker, in behalf of the Faculty of the Col- 
lege, contented himself with an expression of the gratification of the 
body of which he was a member, in view of the large numbers of 
the children of our Alma Mater, who had come up to her festival ; 
in their names, repeating the assurance of welcome they had al- 
ready received from the President, and declining further to occupy 
attention, when so many were yet to be heard. 

X. " The oldest Graduates : 

Like the children whom the Spartan Mother sent forth to the 
contest, they have come back with their shields.' ' 

Salem Town, LL. D., of the class of 1805, resident at Aurora, 
New York, arose and said : 

Mr. President : — In responding to this toast, I am, by its pe- 
culiar allusions, forcibly reminded of that Divine Shield which has 
protected the lives, and secured the return of so goodly a number 
of the older Alumni, to participate in this joyous anniversary. 

Standing on this classic ground, as I now do, after the lapse of 
forty-five years, awakens a vivid recollection of the past, and gives 
peculiar interest to the festivities of a day, in which, the represent- 
ative extremes of the last half century, are now associated. 

At no former period of life, have such mingled emotions rushed 
on my mind, as on the present occasion. As a member of College, 
I saw its first honors conferred on every graduating class, preced- 
ing my own, save one, and that consisted of a single individual. 

At this early period, the founders of the institution cherished 
its infancy with more than paternal solicitude. Fraternity of feel- 
ing, and mutual kindness, such as the living graduates of that day 
have never forgotten, characterized the intercourse of students and 
citizens, and all rejoiced in each others welfare. 

But time has rolled on, and change has marked her progress. 
Few of those generous benefactors ; few of the first Alumni, now 
behold the sunlight of this auspicious day. The very aspect of the 
village even, shows little resemblance to what it once was. The 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DIXXER. 119 

hills, the distant mountains, and the old College building, are the 
main objects familiar to the eye of him who first beheld this scene- 
ry, the second year of the nineteenth century. Did time permit, 
I might recount the incidents of those days and draw a striking 
contrast between the past and the present. Great have been the 
intervening changes ; and greater still the march of human intellect. 
I might dwell on those surprising changes which have come over our 
common country, in her physical, intellectual, and moral condition, 
since first I trod yonder classic halls, — Discoveries of surprising re- 
search ; inventions of inestimable value to the world ; unexampled 
progress in the sciences ; attainment of great perfection in the arts; 
wonderful facilities for intercourse and transportation ; and more es- 
pecially, the abundant provisions for primary instruction and the 
general diffusion of knowledge. The triumphs of persevering en- 
terprise, have wrought wonders in every department of human per- 
fectibility. We seem to have made the progress of centuries even, 
during the last fifty years. Could we compass in one view, the 
living realities of all that human ingenuity has devised and accom- 
plished, since the first morning sun looked forth on Middlebury Col- 
lege, it would fill the mind with amazement, even to contemplate 
the mere number and magnitude of those stupendous achievements. 
Ten fold more, at least, has been accomplished, for the substantial 
benefit of man, the development of mind, the intercourse of na- 
tions, and the civilization of the world, during the last half centu- 
ry, than in any equal period of her past history. In this work the 
Sons of Middlebury have not been wanting. 

We boast not vainly, since facts themselves demonstrate this one 
truth, that no College has, according to its age and number of grad- 
uates, contributed more largely to the interests of our common 
country, than ours. — But I forbear to add ; and will close by ex- 
pressing a sincere, a heartfelt desire, that our beloved Alma Mater, 
may live with the ages, and be a traveler with time ; and henceforth 
bless the world with benefactors, equal to the number of her sons. 

XI. " Our Statesmen, living and dead: 

While mother's love endures, let Nature own 
The jewels of her casket and her zone." 



120 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



Hon. Alexander W. Buel, of the class of 1830, resident at 
Detroit, Michigan, responded as follows ; 

Having had. the honor of addressing more formally upon another 
occasion most of those present, I feel unwilling to occupy much of 
your time now, whilst there are here so ^nany, who, I doubt not, 
desire to mingle their voices and sentiments with our present festiv- 
ities. But, having been called upon to respond to the sentiment 
just offered, I shall do violence to my own feelings, I must fetter 
the impulses of my heart, if I do not give expression to some of 
the feelings and emotions, excited by the circumstances of the oc- 
casion. 

Here are the scenes of our early literary associations ; here are 
the surviving Mentors of our youth ; here are our classmates, and 
our predecessors and successors in the college Olympiad, met a- 
gain, but never again to meet under like auspices. "Who, now 
present, will claim for himself a seat at this table, at the end of an- 
other half-century ? Alas ! it may be none, not one. Yet it is our 
privilege to be happy and to rejoice with each other, that so many 
of us have been permitted to assemble, under circumstances so fa- 
vorable for a revival of the days of our youth, with all their hal- 
lowed scenes and recollections. 

Who amongst us, so dead to the ordinary sensibilities of our na- 
ture, as not to return with joy to the field of his early literary la- 
bors ? Who does not love to tread once more those halls, in which 
his destiny has been moulded ? For myself, I shall do injustice to 
my heart, if I do not say, that the circumstances of the occasion 
bind me afresh to the home of my youth, to yon Temple of Science, 
and to those, with whom I there had the good fortune, and am now 
happy and proud to be associated. 

It is related by Xenophon in his Feast of Callias, that each guest 
was successively asked, upon what he most valued himself. To 
this question, Lycon in his turn responded, " To be the father of 
such a Son as Autolicus." When the same question was put to 
the son, he responded, " To be the son of such a father. 5 ' If that 
question should now be put to us, might we not imitate the son, and 
indulge in some pride for our literary parentage ? And too, though 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 121 

it might savor a little of vanity on our part, might we not hope to 
behold our literary mother upon yon college green, imitating the 
father, and looking "with pride upon this assembly of her children ? 
ecially might we indulge in such a hope, when we bring to our 
remembrance the names of her illustrious dead. I beg to respond 
further to the sentiment just delivered, by offering you the name of 

Silas Wright : 

His surviving literary brethren are proud to share in his legacy 
of fame. Itself is its most enduring monument. 

XII. " The Jurist : 

It was study that dimmed the eyes of Justice, that reflection 
might enlighten her heart. Her balance tests the interests 
of the man by the safety of society." 

Hon. Stephen Rotce, LL. D., of the class of 1807, Chief 
Justice of the State, resident at Berkshire, Vt., was expected to re- 
spond to this toast, but was not present. A letter was read from 
Hon. John Willard, LL. D.,of the class of 1813, resident at Sara- 
toga, New York, which unhappily was mislaid at the time and is not 
at hand. It concluded with a sentiment approving the endowment 
of Literary Institutions as highly honorable to a State. 

XIII. " Teachers : 

Aau^udia e/ovTe; diadidouaiv di'/.lrj.oig" 

To this sentiment, Joshua Bates, Jr., Esq., of the class of 1832, 
resident at Boston, Massachusetts, responded as follows : 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — I have looked forward with 
much interest, to this gathering of the children of our Alma Mater. 
How many pleasant associations crowd the mind, as we surround 
this festal board ! Some of us are now amidst the scenes of c 
childhood. Each nook and dale, and each familiar spot by the 
mountain and river side, how full of incident and memories of the 
past ! — and Sir, as we meet face to face, many of our former asso- 
ciates and companions, the feelings of past years return with all 
their freshness and sincerity, while we grasp the hand of a class- 
mate, dear to us in the present, from the many pleasant associations 
of the past — reminiscences of our by-gone College days. Many of 

us, since we left this familiar spot have been engaged in profession- 
16 



122 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

al life. It has been my lot to engage in the profession of Teach- 
ing. For I claim, Sir, that Teaching should ever be ranked a- 
mong the learned professions. In many parts of our country, it is 
no longer, as formerly, a temporary employment, resorted to as a 
stepping-stone to some other profession. But our best instructors 
are devoting their lives to the work — the noble work of teaching. 
I see around me many who stand high in the profession — who might 
more properly, than myself, speak upon the subject of education 
and the duties and usefulness of the teachers' office. But Sir, I 
hope I may be pardoned, if in the few remarks I have to make at 
this time, I shall speak, professionally, upon the subject of Common 
Schools — a subject trite and thread-bare, I know, but one as impor- 
tant as any, which can occupy a portion of the time, devoted to an 
occasion like this — a subject intimately connected with the success 
of our Colleges, for the College and Common School have a mutual 
relation like that of mother and child ; for the pros perity of our 
Colleges must, in a great measure, depend upon the interest which 
is manifested in the improvement of our Common Schools, and our 
Common Schools must improve in proportion to the interest which 
is manifested in sustaining and giving a healthful tone to our Colleges. 
It was said by one thoroughly acquainted with the secret springs 
of ] a action: " Let me write the popular songs of a nation, 
and I care not who makes its laws." If this be true, how much 
more forcibly does the spirit of this remark apply to the instructions 
of the Teacher. The dark and mysterious subtilities of Egyptian 
mythology, the daring heroism of Sparta, the noble and extended 
influence of the early Persians, the greatness of soul and military 
exploits of the Romans may be traced directly or indirectly to the 
efforts and influences of the Teacher. Thus it has been in all ages, 
as is the Teacher so will be the school and College ; as is the school 
and College so will be the character and condition of a people. How 
essential then to the moral growth, and intellectual ability of a na- 
tion, is it, that the best interests of Colleges and Common Schools, 
should be anxiously guarded, and efforts constantly made to intro- 
duce such improvements, as will insure their usefulness, and confer 
upon a nation or State, intelligence, integrity and a sacred regard 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 123 

for whatever is honest, or of good report. The condition of the indi- 
viduals of each generation of men is determined in a great meas- 
ure bj the deeds and character of their ancestors. In civilized 
countries, we find much work already accomplished. We find for- 
ests cleared, — farms under cultivation, roads and bridges built, — 
Society organized, — government established, — laws in operation, — 
customs settled, — political institutions founded, — Colleges and 
Schools erected and education attended to, — and every department 
of the arts and sciences in a greater or less degree, encouraged and 
sustained. This may be said to be particularly true of the New 
England States ; — and Sir, to what do they owe this state of things ? 
To the founders of the New England Colonies. Most of the men who 
landed on the shores of New England, were well educated men, — 
men some of whom ranked high as scholars, even in their own coun- 
try ; consequently next to the -worship of God they gave their at- 
tention to the establishment of Colleges and Academies. But Sir, 
to them especially belongs the honor of founding the present sys- 
tem of Free Schools. Nothing of the kind, had ever before existed 
among any people. While in the old countries, the privileged few 
were instructed and educated, the masses were left to grovel in ig- 
norance and crime. And sir, to what may we ascribe the vast dif- 
ference in the present moral, intellectual and social condition of the 
New England States and the South American Republics. Is it 
not mainly owing to the different motives which influenced the orig- 
inal settlers? In the one case, the worship of God and the educa- 
tion of all the people, were the prominent ideas, in the minds of 
our pious Ancestry ; in the other case, conquest and pecuniary mo- 
tives, urged on the idle, unprincipled and profligate, as if man's on- 
ly destiny here, were the gratification of animal and sensual desires. 
While New England has ever willingly sustained, the noble system 
of Free Schools, established by our forefathers, yet, Sir, its impor- 
tance to national prosperity, has never been more seriously felt, 
than at the present time, by the wise and good of our land. While 
the old countries have shaken, with political convulsions, to their 
very centre, and systems of governments which have stood the sh 
of ages, seem now to be crumbling to the dust ; while dailv are 



124 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

landed upon our shores the ignorant and vicious of foreign lands, 
the Christian and Philanthropist have of late felt more powerfully 
than ever, the importance of sustaining our glorious system of free 
schools, feeling most sensibly the truth of the often repeated ax- 
iom, that the success, prosperity and happiness of a country are 
mainly owing to the moral and intellectual condition of the masses. 
May we not safely affirm, that the increased interest, throughout 
our country, upon the subject of education, is mainly owing to the 
fact, that the wise and educated of our highly favored land, feel 
that a critical era is at hand, and that if we would transmit to oth- 
ers the blessings we enjoy, a deeper interest must be felt and man- 
ifested for the improvement of our Common Schools, — such im- 
provements and plans, as will surely secure an education to all her 
children. Within a few years, the Old Bay State — the mother of 
us all, has been alive and energetic in the cause of Common Schools . 
Her best talents, among her distinguished men, have been called in- 
to exercise, to arrange, systematize, and carry into successful ope- 
ration plans and measures, which will effectually secure a good edu- 
cation to all her children. And Sir, I am most happy to know, 
that the good State of Vermont is not slack in her duty to the best 
interests of her Common Schools. In proportion to her means, 
Vermont has always quite equaled m her sister Massachusetts, in 
her attention to education. Her Colleges, Academies, High Schools, 
and Common Schools, have given to this State, a character for gen- 
eral intelligence, surpassed by none of the New England States. 
Her early settlers were men, mostly from Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut. Many of them educated men, who early in her history, 
reared upon her mountain sides and through her fertile valleys, the 
school house and the house of God. Vermont, with those who know 
anything of her character, has always been distinguished for her 
well informed, intelligent }<eomanry. Between the agricultural 
population of Vermont and Massachusetts, we believe that there is 
a stronger resemblance, than between the same class of people in 
any other part of the Union. Sober, industrious, strong and heal- 
thy in body, and vigorous in mind — exemplary in conduct — conser- 
vative in character — understanding, thoroughly, what they pre- 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER . 



125 



tend to understand, they have ever been ready to adopt, and 
steadily pursue such measures, as would secure to her children, a 
good education. Those of us, Sir, who were born, or have been 
educated within her limits, may well be proud of the land of our 
early years, and venerate and cherish the principles and virtues, in- 
stilled into our youthful minds. And Sir, shall we, whose homes 
are scattered far and wide over the land, prove recreant and un- 
faithful to the great trusts committed to our hands ; — shall we be 
remiss and inactive in a cause, as sacred as any, which can engage 
the attention of mortals ? Each one of us, who has come up to this 
jubilee of our Alma Mater, has a duty to perform. Whatever in- 
fluence we may have in the various professions and stations of life, 
we should give a portion of that influence and personal effort to in- 
terest the various communities, where we are located, in a laudable 
ambition to introduce reforms, and improvements, and ever manifest 
a deep interest in establishing and carrying into operation such meas- 
ures, as will secure the greatest good from our Common Schools. 
If Sir, in our country there is one subject more important than 
anv other, which demands the increasing and vigilant attention of 
all citizens, it is the subject of Common Schools, and Sir, if there 
is any subject in which our educated men should feel a deep inter- 
est, it is that of Common Schools. Let us then, as we separate 
from this festal board, and go forth to our various stations of ac- 
tion and influence, carry with us a spirit of enthusiasm to labor and 
toil in a cause, so intimately connected with all, that secures individ- 
ual, social and national prosperity. 

XIV. " The Scholar : 

As Civilization advances, the pupil of Learning is the Master 
of Art.' 5 

Rev. James D. Butler, of Wells River, of the class of 1836, 
was called for, and addressed the company as follows : 

Mr. President : — This toast embodies one of the convictions 
nearest my heart. During the few minutes I speak, I will confine 
my remarks to one of the modes, through which the consummation 
prophesied in the sentiment just uttered, must be attained, namely, 



126 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



through scholars delighting to honor whatsoever things are excel- 
lent. Opposed to such a generous appreciation stand various pre- 
judices, which the man bent on the highest culture will withstand 
even unto the uttermost. Most of these prejudices have their ori- 
gin in a narrowness of mind, that seeks truth in its own little home- 
stead, and nowhere else. Thus we are prone to view our country 
as the celestial empire and all foreigners as outer barbarians, though 
the ocean of knowledge has received tributaries from every land. 
Accordingly it is in vain for most Englishmen to travel, since like a 
snail, they are always at home in a shell of insular prejudices, or 
in a coach-load of luggage. Walking to and fro in Canada, they 
see England in the New World, and in this Union behold nothing but 
the turbulent spirit of democracy. The present age, when the 
ends of the earth see eye to eye, should it not laugh to scorn such 
arrogance ? Yet how many among us cannot rise to the dignity of 
a national predilection, but are exclusive admirers of one section — 
North, South, East, or West, — of city or country, of one sect, par- 
ty, calling, hobby, or college, — veritable brethren of that Dutch 
cooper, who swore that no man but a cooper should marry his 
daughter. — A true scholar may ally himself to any party, — but will 
never sink to a partisan, blind to see wise and good men among his 
antagonists, forgetful that all administrations — and all oppositions — 
are but a choice of evils, and that as the country suffers under the 
best, so it can survive, or shake off, the worst. 

A man's own calling is prone to be a den, where he worships idols. 
Engrossing most of his attention, it is in his view the land of light, 
,as a mole's hole is to a mole ; while other walks of life, as to which 
he is in the dark, pass with him for lands of darkness. Y\ r ere there 
more ministers, who, like Payson, read through Rees' Encyclopedia 
more than once, there would be fewer of the sacred order stigma- 
tised as a clan or caste, touching society at only one point, or tech- 
nical characters, the whole human being shaped into an official thing, 
and nature's own man, with free faculties and warm sentiments, ex- 
tinct. Not only do the three professions fail to strengthen each 
other, as they would do did they join hand in hand, but few scholars 
have any professional brethren. Spite of legal, medical, and min- 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 127 



isteriai associations, scholars are almost; as isolated as medieval 
barons, each on his own hill-top tower, — pelicans of the wilderness, 
owls of the desert, sparrows alone on the horse-tops. 

jSTor are sectarian trammels less hampering than those of country, 
party, or profession. Every sectarian professes to have a monopo- 
ly of truth. For two centuries Protestant England refused to learn 
from Papal Italy the true reckoning of time, preferring to fight 
with the stars in their courses, rather than agree with Rome. In- 
stead of co-operating as to weightier matters, where they coincide, 
evangelical denominations are still beginning battles as to matters 
;erning which Scripture speaks nothing expressly, while temper- 
ament, taste and education will make men differ. Nay, in the same 
denomination many are intolerant of an extemporary, and as many 
of a written sermon ; many excommunicate a man for a shibboleth 
though he have in him the root of the matter ; — and no wonder, for 
they sometimes smell a heresy in the Lord's prayer, — since it says 
nothing of a Mediator. 

But as to nothing are scholars so prone to narrow their minds, as 
to their favorite study or darling idea. Here is a man of facts, 
who can do nothing but accumulate facts, counting system-makers 
as dreamers. Would that he could feel his collections to be a rope 
of sand, till like be joined to like ; a mob, till individuals are mar- 
shalled under species and species under genera, like soldiers in an 
army. Over against this practical man stands a theorist, who hi a 
steeple-chase of speculation ranges beyond the flaming bounds of 
space and time, counting facts and fact-mongers as the small dust 
of the balance. He knows as if he knew it not, that all philoso- 
phers before Bacon failed, through building their reasonings on rea- 
sonings, not on observations; that Newton's greatest discovery was 
delayed, for years, by a mistake he had fallen into concerning a sin- 
gle fact ; and that one false fact betrayed Lardner into his ridicu- 
lous demonstration, that to cross the Atlantic by steam is mathe- 
matically impossible. Thus men of theory and of practice stand 
affected toward each other, like the French engineers and soldiers 
in Egypt. The engineers thought the soldiers were machines, 
while the soldiers, when certain engineers fell into a ditch from 



128 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



which the j could not extricate themselves, answered their cries for 
help, saying : " Where's your plan ? Show us your plan. You 
surely don't think we can help you till you show us your plan." 
Next we meet a mathematician asking concerning Paradise Lost, 
What does it prove ? as if no man were anything more than one of 
Babbage's calculating machines. And there stands a poet, pre- 
tending that his memory is poorer than it is, as if the elements of all 
his creations, however sublime or fairy-like, were not furnished him 
by memory; the faculty which the ancients hence styled "Mother 
of all the Muses." Moreover, there are jealous lovers of excel- 
lence who, like old Hunker exclusionists, arrogate it all to them- 
selves, and think that they are dispraised, whenever anybody else 
is praised. There is a straitest sect of purists who thank God that 
they are not as other men, because they never touch — a novel, 
or review, or work stitched in yellow paper. There are idolaters of 
the past, who in Dante's vision rose before him with heads so twisted 
that their chins hung over their back-bones. There are bigots who 
vegetate like rhubarb under a barrel, and see the world only through 
its bung-hole. 

I need not say that a true scholar will shun all these arts of 
dwarfing, as the navigator shuns the beacon-fire, and that he will 
make his own, the truths these one-ideaed men have rallied round. 
When he sees monomaniacs rushing to contradictory extremes, he 
will reflect that each may be hastening to the niche he was ordained 
to fill, as the counterpoise of some other ; as in politics, oppositions 
keep administrations from trenching upon the constitution ; and as 
on board a man-of-war, marines keep sailors from mutiny. Even 
when constrained to view some of his opponents in the light of 
Philistines, left on the borders of Canaan, to prove Israel, he will 
still recognize them as needful thorns. If he be a Conservative, he 
will not marvel that others are reformers, since they know that rev- 
olutions are best prevented by reforms ; that every improvement is 
a change ; that the changes accompanied by the greatest evils have 
been the ^greatest improvements ; that the good is the enemy of the 
better ; and that the law of habit makes physicians let patients die 
according to rule, rather than recover through departing from rule. 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 129 






But if he be a Reformer, he will not marvel that others are con- 
servatives, when they consider how many changes, rooting up wheat 
with tares, are no improvements ; how much movement is, as in a 
squirrel's rolling cage, without progress ; how many dream that even 
religion was intended for nothing else but to be mended ; how fol- 
lowing the wisest movements of others may be as foolish for us, as 
Pharaoh's following Moses into the Red Sea proved for him. If 
he be the nurseling of an Alma Mater, he will think it no proof of 
proficiency in liberal studies, to be incredulous as to the culture of 
Alumni, fostered by other mothers. Nor yet will he look askance 
at his country-cousins, self-made men ; for he knows that every 
ripe scholar has learned more by himself, than under tutors and 
governors, and that whatever is taught in Colleges has been learned 
more meritoriously, — that is, in spite of greater obstacles, — beyond 
their walls. But if he be the architect of his own scholarship, he 
will be far from sucking the bear's paws of his own self-importance, 
— as if he had found a more excellent way ; for he feels his obliga- 
tions to books, that had never been written but for literary institu- 
tions ; he has longed for teachers who, like a light shining in a dark 
place, would have showed him, at once, what he groped for long in 
vain. He knows that for lack of such a clue many a docile youth, 
lost in wandering mazes, has found no end ; he knows that, though 
he has climbed up some other way, yet to be taught is the natural 
way to learn science, as to be an apprentice is the natural 
way to become a mechanic. Whether he has gained his learning in 
public, or in private, he will despise no man, not even those who 
despise him as an idler, and accent the word Industry on the penul- 
timate syllable, — as if they thought there could be no industry save 
in the dust. He remembers that the greatest painter in ancient 
Greece, learned something from a conceited cobbler ; that the 
greatest engineer in modem Italy was saved from failing in his 
greatest achievement, by a common sailor ; that Shakspeare bor- 
rowed from ballad singers, wont to be classed with beggars ; and 
that Paul was a debtor to the unwise ; so that the head cannot say 
to the foot: " I have no need of thee." Moreover, he feels the 

paradox that " faiths ascend " to be no paradox ; since the cottages 
17 



130 MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

not the drawing-rooms, of England were first to appreciate Bunyan; 
the common people, not rulers and pharisees, heard Jesus gladly ; 
and the popular heart was prepared for the Lutheran resurrection 
of Christianity, a hundred years before any court, or monastery ; 
so that in very deed, things hid from the wise were revealed unto 
babes. 

0, that we had this "large, sound, round-about" appreciation 
and that in this regard we resembled the wise artist. In his best 
moods he has no eye for the incongruities, defilements, and rents of 
time in a famous cathedral, but he is absorbed by its sublimities, 

" Till growing with its growth he thus dilates 
His spirit to the size of what he contemplates." 

He must behold the mammoth-marvel of Rome — the Coliseum, — 
in ruin ; but he is careful to behold it by moonlight ; — by moon 
light " that softens clown the hoar austerity of rugged desolation, 
and fills up, as 'twere anew, the gaps of centuries, leaving that 
beautiful that still is so, and making that which is not." 

Were our appreciation of excellence thus expansive and frater- 
nizing, hemmed in by no lines of state or nation, sect or party, 
bread-study or lady-love study, the pupil of science would be the 
master of art. Let all scholars, then, meet and embrace, like Jo- 
seph and Benjamin, though one was reared in Canaan and the oth- 
er in Egypt : let us not be more haughty than Naaman as to taking 
advice from a Jewish maid ; let us have more of the spirit which 
raised a mortal to the skies, and less of that which drew an angel 
clown ; — though rivals in mind let us be brothers in heart. Then 
shall we boast more men of many-sided culture, compacted by that 
which every joint supplieth. The man of a single aim also shall be 
aided as to his pet pursuit. All science being interdependent ; he 
shall seize some hitherto undetected golden chain, or commune vin- 
culum, by which other departments are waiting to elevate his own 
higher than it has ever risen. Whether general or particular schol- 
ars, every steam-car will be a shuttle weaving closer the web of our 
congeniality ; for we shall walk in the steps of Paul quoting heathen 
poets, of Bacon rendering unto the alchemist the things that are 
the alchemist's, and of Rome conquering the world by adopting the 



1* 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 131 

excellences of enemies, — the Gallic sword, the Grecian shield, the 
Samnite discipline, the ships of Carthage. Whatever others may- 
do then, let us spoil the Egyptians and tax all the world. 

There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
Would men observingly distill it out. 

I beg leave then to propose this sentiment : 

As we scholars to-day meet old friends, the world seems 
warmer ; may it ever seem wider when we make new ones. 

The President arose and said that his engagements were of such 
a pressing character, that he should be compelled to leave town in 
the train momentarily expected. Before withdrawing he begged 
leave to offer the following sentiment : 

" Our Literary Mother : 

May she never become childless, and may her children never 
become orphans" 

Edward D. Barber, Esq., was called to the chair ; three cheers 
were given for Mr. Buel, and the exercises proceeded. 

XV. " Our Poets : 

When Wilcox died, Melpomene in pain 

Sigh'd ' I'll not look upon his like again !' 

Euphrosyne that never fails for smiles, 

Though grief becomes her and though care beguiles, 

Flew to Apollo, and her suit did gain, 

As good a poet in another vein." 

The President then announced that a Poem would be delivered 
by John G. Saxe, Esq., of the class of 1839. Mr. Saxe was 
greeted with much enthusiasm, and was frequently interrupted with 
continued and hearty cheers, during the delivery of the following 

POEM. 

A right loving welcome, my true-hearted Brothers ! 
Who have come out to visit the kindest of mothers ; 
You may think as you will, but there isn't a doubt, 
Alma Mater rejoices, and knows you arc out ; 
Rejoices to see you in gratitude here, 
Returning to honor her fiftieth year. 
And while the good lady is so overcome 
With maternal emotion, she's stricken quite dumb, 



132 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

(A thing I must own, that's enough to perplex 

A shallow observer, who thinks that the sex, 

Whatever may be their internal revealings, 

Can never be pained with unspeakable feelings,) 

Indulge me, dear Brothers, nor think me ill-bred, 

If I venture a moment to speak in her stead. 

I, who, though the humblest and homeliest one, 

Feel the natural pride of a dutiful son, 

And esteem it to-day, the proudest of joys, 

That, not less than yourselves, I am one of the boys ! 

First as to her health, which I'm sorry to say, 
Has been better, no doubt, than she finds it to-day ; 
Yet when you reflect she's been somewhat neglected, 
She's really as well as could well be expected : 
And, spite of ill-treatment, and premature fears, 
Is a hearty old lady, for one of her years. 
Indeed, I must tell you a bit of a tale, 
To show you, she's feeling remarkably hale ; 
How she turned up her nose, but a short time ago, 
At a rather good-looking, importunate beau : 
And how she refused, with a princess-like carriage, 
A very respectable offer of marriage ! 

You see, my dear Brothers, a neighboring College, 
Who values himself on the depth of his knowledge, 
With a prayer for her love, and eye to her land, 
Walked up to the lady and offered his hand. 
For a minute, or so, she was all in a flutter, 
And had not a word she could audibly utter ; 
For she felt in her bosom, beyond all concealing, 
A kind of a — sort of a — widow-like feeling ! 
But recovering soon from the delicate shock, 
She held up her head like an old-fashioned clock, 
And with proper composure, went on and defined 
In suitable phrase,^ che state of her mind. 
Said she wouldn't mind changing her single condition, 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 133 



Could she fairly expect to improve her position ; 
And thus, by some words of equivocal scope, 
Gave her lover decided permission to hope. 
It were idle to tajik of the billing and cooing, 
The amorous gentleman used in his wooing ; 
Or how she replied to his pressing advances, 
His oscular touches and ocular glances ; 
'Tis enough that his courtship, by all that is known, 
Was quite the old story, and much like your own. 

Thus the matter went on, till the lady found out, 
One very fine day, what the rogue was about, — 
That all that he wanted was only the power 
By marital license, to pocket her dower, 
And then, to discard her in sorrow and shame, 
Bereaved of her home, and her name and her fame. 
In deep indignation she turned on her heel, 
With such withering scorn as a lady might feel 
For a knave, who, in stealing her miniature case, 
Should take the gold setting, and leave her the face ! 
But soon growing calm as the breast of the deep, 
When the breezes are hushed that the waters may sleep, 
She sat in her chair, like a dignified elf, 
And thus, while I listened, she talked to herself : — 
" Nay, 'twas idle to think of so foolish a plan 
% As a match with this pert University-man, 
" For I have n't a chick but would redden with shame, 
" At the very idea of my losing my name ; 
" And would feel that no sorrow so heavy could come 
" To his mother, as losing her excellent home. 
" 'Tis true, I am weak, but my children are strong, 
" And won't see me suffer privation or wrong : 
" So, away with the dream of connubial joys, 
" I'll stick to the homestead, and look to the boys." 

How joyous, my friends, is the cordial greeting, 
Which gladdens the heart at a family meeting ; 



134 MIBDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

When brothers assemble round Friendship's old shrine, 

To look at the present, and talk of " Lang Syne" ! 

Ah ! well I remember the halcyon years, 

Too earnest for laughter, too pleasant for tears, 

When life was a boon in yon classical court, 

Though lessons were long, and though commons were short. 

Ah ! well I remember those excellent men, 

Professors and Tutors, who reigned o'er us then : 

Who guided our feet over Science's bogs, 

And led us quite safe through Philosophy's fogs. 

Ah! well I remember the President's face, 

As he sat at the lecture with dignified grace, 

And neatly unfolded the mystical themes 

Of various deep, metaphysical schemes : 

How he brightened the path of his studious flock, 

As he gave them the key to that wonderful Locke ; 

How he taught us to feel it was fatal indeed, 

With too much reliance, to lean upon Reid ; 

That Steioart was sounder, but wrong at the last, 

From following his master a little too fast, 

Then closed the discourse in a scholarly tone, 

With a clear and intelligent creed of his own. 

That the man had his faults it were safe to infer; 

Though I really don't recollect what they were ; 

I barely remember this one little truth, 

When his case was discussed by the critical youth, 

The Seniors and Freshmen were sure to divide, 

And the former were all on the President's side. 

And well I remember another, whose praise 
Were a suitable theme for more elegant lays ; 
But even in numbers ungainly and rough, 
I must mention the name of our glorious Hough, 
Who does not remember ? for who can forget, ' 
Till Memory's star^shalfforever have set, 
How he sat in his place, unaffected and bold, 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 135 

And taught us more truths than the lesson had told ? 

Gave a lift to " Old Noll " for the love of the right, 

And a slap at the Stewarts, with cordial spite ; 

And quite in the teeth of conventional rules, 

Hurled his adjectives down upon tyrants and fools ? 

But, chief, he excelled in his proper vocation, 

Of giving the classics a classic translation ; 

In Latin and Greek he was almost oracular, 

And, what's more to his praise, understood the vernacular. 

Oh ! 'twas pleasant to hear him make English of Greek, 

Till you felt that no tongue was inherently weak ; 

While Horace in Latin seemed quite understated, 

And rejoiced like old Enoch in being translated ! — 

And others there were, — but the hour would fail, 
To bring them all up in historic detail : 
And yet, I would give, ere the moment has fled, 
A sigh for the absent, a tear for the dead. 
There's not one of them all, where'er he may rove, 
In the shadows of earth, or the glories above, 
In the home of his birth, or in lands far away, 
But comes back to be kindly remembered to-day. 

One little word more, and my duty is done ; — 
A health to our Mother from each mother's son ! 
Unfading in beauty, increasing in strength, 
May she flourish in health, through the century's length ! 
And next when her children come round her to boast, 
May JUsto perpetua, then be the toast ! 

The following song, written by E. D. Barber, Esq., was then 
sung to the tune of " Byron's Farewell, " under the direction of 
John W. Stewart, Esq., of Middlebury, of the class of 1846. 

Oh ! brothers met once more, 

Too soon to part again ; 
Before we go let's pour 

To our mother's love, one strain. 



136 MIDDLEBUB.T COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



Mother, where'er we've been, 
Thy fame was with us there ; 

As the nurse of noble men, 

The guide to truth and prayer. 

Where Justice holds her scale, 
And blindly hears each prayer ; 

Within her highest pale, 
Thy sons sit honored there. 

In the Senate Hall their voice 
Hath filled the nation's ear ; 

And made the free rejoice, 
And tyrants quake with fear. 

Where the Angel of the grave, 
His shaft points at the heart, 

They show their power to save, 
And turn aside the dart. 

Where'er the Poet's hand 
Hath swept the trancing lyre, 

Thy sons have graced the band 
And touched its chords with fire. 

And by their magic strain, 
Each feeling hath been stirred, 

By Wit and Fancy's reign, 
And Satire's chast'ning word. 

Where'er the battling throng, 
For freedom strike or fall, 

Thy Pilgrim shout and song, 
Ring clear to Freedom's call. 

Where the Good their triumphs win, 
And love to God and man, 

Redeem the world from Sin ; 
Thy sous still lead the van. 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 137 



They lift that banner high 
In the Islands of the sea ; 

And 'neath the Indian sky, 
'hey plant the Gospel tree. 



TI 



Then honor to thy name, 

Our mother loved and dear ; 
We cherish still thy fame ; 

We leave thee with a tear. 

And still where each may go, 

In city or the wild ; 
He'll aye be proud to know 

Thou callest him thy child. 

XV. " The Clergy: 

Learning and Liberty claim them as advocates, Religion and 
Charity as exponents, the Church and the College as orna- 
ments. Those that are first among us are our ministers." 

Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, D. D., of the class of 1807, resi- 
dent at Troy, New York, responded substantially as follows : 

He had been called to answer to the toast last announced, but 
in attempting it, he was reminded of the expression of one of old — 
" What can the man do that cometh after the king ?" 

In behalf of his brethren the clergy, in the presence of brethren 
and this large assemblv, as one of the senior ministers of the bodv 
of Alumni present, he had accepted the invitation, for he trusted 
he should never be found to hesitate to answer, when permitted, in 
behalf of those with whom it was his heart's deepest pleasure, as it 
was his highest honor, to stand enrolled. But such were the circum- 
stances of the occasion, so full of oppressive interest, so rapid in 
their transition, of course fleeting, all, that he could not be ex- 
pected to give to any part the attention necessary to secure the pro- 
prieties of arrangement and order. He should hope to be indulged 
in adopting the order once prescribed to himself by the celebrated 
Rowland Hill, to whom it had been objected that there was a lack 
of method in his discourses : He announced he should speak in 
18 



1.38 MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



the first place, around his text, in the second place, to his text, in 
the third place, should say what he had a mind to. And so, said 
the speaker, I shall attempt to speak in the first place about my text, 
then to my text, and then shall say a few things in general which I 
wish to say. 

In respect to the character of the clergy, it was not proper for 
him to assume anything to himself, but he might follow the Apostle, 
and be permitted to magnify his office. The New England Clergy 
were originally a learned class of men, and from the first the friends 
and founders of institutions of learning. So they were throughout 
the Atlantic colonies, generally, the patrons of education in all its 
forms, the lower as well as the higher, equally with any other 
class of men whatever. An atmosphere of intelligence was what 
they courted for their principles, and what they desired for the so- 
cial, moral and political health of the people. When a college was 
about to be established in Virginia, the testimony of Thomas Jef- 
ferson was given upon this point. When it was proposed by some 
of his associates to dispense with the assistance of the clergy, in 
organizing the institution, — " No, no," — said Jefferson — " the Pres- 
byterian ministers are a learned and influential class of men, and 
you can never succeed without their influence." 

In respect to the cause of Liberty, also : Ministers could not 
take the field with weapons of war, and meet the enemy there. 
They had their appropriate weapons and appropriate places. Many 
in the revolution accompanied the soldiers in the army, as chaplains. 
But their sphere was at home with the people, and their influence 
undoubtedly was with the cause of the people, which they believed 
the true cause, the cause of independence and of religious liberty. 
He spoke for the Congregational and Presbyterian clergy particu- 
larly, with whom he was more intimately connected, and in respect 
to whom, he was better informed, when he said that, as a class, they 
were in that critical time for liberty and independence. There 
were Caldwell, and Witherspoon, and many others South, who had 
been distinguished, President Daggett and others of New England, 
enough to show what the truth had been, if the firmness and stead- 
iness of the people in their protracted struggles up to the crowning 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 139 

result, could leave it doubtful. A truly protestant clergy can have 
no other interests, than such as are best protected by liberty. 

But the colleges of our country had been founded and governed 
to a great extent by the American clergy, in New England especial- 
ly, by the New England clergy. He was not disposed to shrink 
from the responsibilities of this relation. What have been its fruits? 
Have they borne the marks of a corrupting clerical influence ? 
Has this influence gone beyond a fair regard to the moral and re- 
ligious culture of good citizens and good men ? Especially has this 
been the case with Middlebury College, both in its history and dis- 
cipline. The influence and friendship of the clergy had been felt 
in them from the beginning, and it would be a dark day for Mid- 
dlebury College, a day of clouds and thick darkness, when they 
should be withdrawn. He hoped they might not be withdrawn, 
nor feared that they would, while the college continued to inculcate 
sound learning, associated with and partaking the baptism of a sound 
religious influence. 

The college had been the child of christian philanthropy, and 
had been sustained, mainly, by the efforts and sacrifices of chris- 
tians and the christian ministry. He revered the memory of those 
venerable men who founded and nurtured, and who used to gather 
here to watch over it. It was a leading object with them to fur- 
nish for the churches an educated as well as a pious and evangeli- 
cal ministry. That sacred object had been answered eminently, 
and was one yet, upon which we might wait in hope and self-denial. 
Middlebury College had been to him the entrance-way to the min- 
istry. He had first entered Williams College, but it became neces- 
sary to find a college nearer home. He had then no definite pur- 
pose to come here, but thought he could see the hand of Provi- 
dence in it. He went to Burlington, where the University had re- 
cently gone into operation, spent a short time in walking about 
there, in the spirit of a man who had got to hew out his own way 
in life, though it opened by the flowery path of knowledge. He 
came down to Middlebury, talked with the students, saw how they 
passed their time, and the spirit that prevailed, and entered college. 
He had then no intention to become a minister. He was bent upon 



140 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

— — 

the law. But there in that old white college — I revere it still, as 
do others, none the less because it is old ; I wish, it may have an- 
other coat of paint ; — there, I made up my mind, whatever might 
be the duty of others, that it was for me to preach Christ. And 
mine is only a single case. The world this day is better for Mid- 
dlebury College, whose sons have gone everywhere preaching the 
gospel. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our Alma Mater, by 
whom we have become what we are. 

He had sometimes been asked, of late years, if Middlebury Col- 
lege were not on the decline. He had been pained by these inqui- 
ries, and put to the blush, though he was not ashamed of his moth- 
er, but only that she should be thought to suffer. He had replied 
to such inquiries — " No ; there had been some reverses, but he be- 
lieved the College was looking up." For himself, he had never 
dreamed the College would die, and more than ever did he feel en- 
couraged today, when he looked around upon the multitude of her 
sons, who had come up to this family meeting. He believed they 
might trust the Providence, by which all so far had been sustained, 
would not permit the labors and sacrifices of its founders and pat- 
rons to come to naught. But he believed, on the other hand, there 
was much practical wisdom as well as a weight of meaning, in the 
caution of Cromwell to his soldiers, on the eve of a great battle — 
u Trust in Providence — but take care to keep your powder dry /" 
He believed there was something for him and his brethren to do. 
He had done something, as his many burdens and by no means un- 
limited resources permitted, but he meant to do more. He intended 
to subscribe again, and do all he might feel able to do, — in judging 
of that we were all selfish, — to place the old lady above want, and 
not merely that, but in a degree of comfort and plenty as she de- 
served. Another anecdote of Cromwell occurred to him, in think- 
ing of the natural enthusiasm, it was just and proper for the Alum- 
ni to feel here, when remembrances so thrilling were recalled to 
the breast, and associations so sacred were summoned about us. 
That sagacious and much misrepresented chief entered a church, 
where, in their proper places, stood twelve silver statues. "What 
are these? said the General, to the beadle. These, said the beadle, 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNEB. 141 



I 



be the twelve Apostles. Let them come down then, said Cromwell, 
and follow their master, and go about doing good ! And he caused 
them to be melted up into crowns, and put in circulation. Let this 
further and a thorough effort he made, bring jour subscription, said 
the speaker, to me, and if I dont do my part, let five men of you 
come and tell me so. 

I have occupied already too much of your time, and delayed your 
allotted entertainment — [Cries of { go on ;' Rev. Mr. Shaw remind- 
ed the speaker of his third head.'] I have already spoken some time, 
Sir, of things in general, but the subject is not exhausted. I was 
reminded by an allusion of my brother Slade — (Gov. Slade, his 
class-mate) of a fact which deeply moved me. When Ethan Allen 
made his attack upon the English fortification at Ticonderoga, it was 
in the gray of the morning. Sparks relates that on his arrival the 
night previously, with his company, at the Vermont shore opposite, 
no means had been provided for crossing the lake ; and that a small 
boy named Beman, volunteered his assistance, crossed the lake, in 
a skiff, and returned with a batteau for the conveyance of Allen's 
troops, and became with the consent of his father, the guide of the 
expedition. That boy was afterwards my father. 

It is not merely recellections of youth, or personal recollections 
that always recur to move me when I come to Middlebury. My 
heart is here, Sir, and here it naturally meets with objects that 
awaken its emotions. I would fain speak of the performances 
of the graduating class, after the deserved compliments already 
paid them. But I must guard myself, and will content myself with 
saying, they have shown themselves worthy sons of Middlebury 
College, — and that is a compliment high enough to pay to any man. 
The salutatory of our excellent President this morning, it charmed 
and delighted us. Did any of you ever hear a better thing ? 

Mr. Starr, Yes, Sir, we have heard a better ! 

Dr. Beman. And pray, Sir, what was it ? 

Mr. Starr. The President's Baccalaureate Sermon, last Sab- 
bath. 

Dr. Beman. I did not hear that sermon, Sir. I am glad I did 
not. I should never have attempted to write another sermon. I 



142 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

should have gone home discouraged, and given up the business ! — I 
would like to speak of that most appropiate Address of Dr. Bates, 
and the Eulogy of Professor Hough, but (turning to Dr. Hough) 
if he can bear up under all that has been utteredS<i his praise to- 
day, it only shows, that he is not an old man yet ! 

To conclude, Mr. President, I think we have a right kind of a 
mother, who has welcomed us home to-day. Let us, as true sons, 
share in all needful sacrifices for her, put her in an eligible situa- 
tion, and — though we fail, the succession will not fail, — she will be 
immortal ! 

XVI. " The Lawyer: 

Unselfish, though everywhere spoken against — always speak- 
ing but never for himself. The Bar of the Alumni retained 
for the College, we expect to get our case." 

Edgar L. Ormsbee, Esq., of Rutland, of the class of 1823, 
was called, and replied in behalf of the bar. He, on his part, 
would accept the retainer and enter upon his duties to his client ; 
and in behalf of his brethren, would pledge all the safety there 
might be in the multitude and competency of counsellors. Mr. 
Ormsbee proceeded at length with much interest, but the commit- 
tee have failed to obtain a competent report. 

XVII. " The iihysicians among the Alumni: 

Good for the cure of any disease not immedicable. Their 
Mother will never die under their treatment." 

Dr. Bradford L. Wales, of Randolph, Mass., of the class of 
1824, and Dr. Nehemiah Cutter, of Pepperell, Mass., of the 
class of 1814, were loudly called for, when the latter responded as 
follows : 

Mr. President : — Being unexpectedly called to respond to the 
toast just announced, I am not, therefore, prepared. But Mr. 
President, I would tender the grateful acknowledgments of the 
Alumni, who belong to the medical profession, for the honor and 
confidence expressed. Mr. President, in relation to our- Alma Ma-' 
ter, I would say in the outset, that it is my practice when I leave 
my home, and go abroad, always to leave my medicine, and in a 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 143 

measure my medical profession at home — and as our mother is rep- 
resented to be sick, and as I have no medicine with me, I should 
Leg to be excused from prescribing. But, Mr. President, as she 
is my mother, I feel an unusual interest in her case. I have, there- 
fore, examined and considered the symptoms and pathology of her 
disease, the Diagnosis, and the Prognosis of it, — and have con- 
cluded to make two prescriptions. First give her ten thousand 
dollars to remove all obstructions in the prima via — and secondly, 
give her twenty-five thousand dollars, for a permanent tonic, in 
fund, of which to take small doses to invigorate and sustain the sys- 
tem as the indications require. 

Tims, Mr. President, I presume to predict, that she will imme- 
diately be in a convalescent state, and shortly restored to perfect 
health and prosperity. 

XVIII. " The Merchant : 

4# He endows all the liberal arts, with liberality." 

Joseph Stedman Clarke, Esq., of Augusta, Georgia, of the 
class of 1827, was called for, but had been previously compelled to 
withdraw from the pavilion, in order to take the cars. 

XIX. " The Farmer : 

Lord of Mother Earth ; the true Husbandman. The culture 
of his children is the pride of their sire." 

Hon. John S. Pettlbone, of Manchester, of the class of 1810, 
responded with ability and effect. 

XX. " Vermont : 

Our pride — our pride undimmed before a patron ; our love — 
love without regret or apprehension ; the peerless one — 
where all are peers that honor her." 

To this sentiment Hon. Horace Eaton, M. D., of Middlebury, 
Ex-Governor of the State, of the class of 1825, responded : 

Mr. President : — If the reason for my being called on to re- 
spond to the sentiment, that has just been pronounced, is drawn from 
the official relation which I have heretofore sustained to the State, 
it may be proper for me, as a first step, to vindicate her, as well as 
I can, in this very particular, — so that she may not be prejudiced, 



114 MIDDLEBUllY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

at the outset, by the connection in which she is brought before you. 
Let me plead, then, that Vermont has not been wont to elect to 
her Chief Magistracy, any but able and worthy men. From the 
plain and unpolished, yet clear-headed and true-hearted Chittenden, 
— admirably fitted for the times in which he lived, and adapted to 
the position which he occupied, — downward through the humorous, 
shrewd and discerning Tichenor ; the strong minded, discreet and 
venerable Galusha ; and from him still onward to more recent years, 
embracing Jenison and Mattocks, — whom I may name, because 
they are in their graves, and whom I ivould name, because many of 
us knew and loved them well ; — among them all, there was no one 
of whom Vermont had reason to be ashamed. 

I do indeed remember that some twenty to thirty years since, a 
certain individual was presented as a candidate for the gubernatori- 
al office, who, soon after his nomination, was publicly toasted with 
the somewhat uncomplimentary sentiment : — " The trees said unto 
the bramble, — Come thou, and reign over us." But nevertheless, 
the individual was elected, in spite of the toast. And although he may 
have proved something of a bramble to the class who thus compli- 
mented him, still in the eye and estimation of the mass of the people 
then, and in the judgment of men at the present time, he stood a 
very fair tree, after all. So that we may regard the line of truly 
respectable and worthy men, occupying the chair of State, as con- 
tinuing still unbroken. 

And now, Sir, if in passing clown to more recent days, you find 
that the wonted wisdom of the State has, in a single instance, 
seemed to fail her, be kind enough to allow her the privilege of 
pleading the charitably meant, as well as the truthful maxim : — 
" Nemo in omnibus horis sapit." 

Perhaps there is another reason, besides that to which I have al- 
luded, why I have been called upon to respond to the sentiment last 
announced. Vermont is the land of my birth, the land in which 
my days have been thus far spent,— a land from which I never wished 
to stray. Never have I had a single paroxysm of any of those 
Western fevers, which have sometimes prevailed, and carried off 
their thousands. No febrile excitement of this sort has ever quick- 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 145 

ened the movements of my heart, at the rate of one pulsation per- 
minute. Content have I ever been with the thought, and satisfied 
with the expectation, that I should live and die, within the borders 
of the State whose pure air I first inhaled. And in view of this, 
my settled attachment to Vermont, it might be expected that I 
should be ready to speak in her behalf. 

I snail not here, Mr. President, attempt an encomium upon her 
bold mountains, her fertile vallies, and her limpid streams. Her 
sons regard her as worthy of their love, for other and better rea- 
sons than can be drawn from mere physical features and advantages. 
These causes of attachment can never be sufficient to excite in the 
bosom the profoundest and purest sentiment of patriotism. There 
must be something in the character of a people, and something in 
their institutions illustrating that character, which shall have 
power to command our regard, in order that the purest and best 
emotions of patriotism should be enkindled, and that the land of 
our home should come to be truly and emphatically regarded as 

one— 

" of every land the pride, 
"Beloved of Heaven o'er all the world beside." 

If Vermont could boast of nothing beyond the majesty, the beauty 
and loveliness of her varied scenery, she could never bind her sons 
with that warm attachment, that deep, elevated, and strong affection, 
whose cords now fasten her to their hearts. Our streams, we may 
affirm, are clear ; the air of our mountains pure ; and our hills and 
vallies green. But there is to us, in the ennobling elevation of 
character, — in the iron will, the resolute and intrepid hardihood, 
the stern independence, the firm self-reliance, and the indomitable 
love of freedom, that are characteristic of our people, a true and 
abiding bond of attachment, whose place neither green hills and 
smiling vales, nor pure air and crystal streams, would ever be able 
to supply. Her sons love their native State, because she exhibits 
these engaging moral characteristics, superadded to the attractive- 
ness of her physical features and character, in harmonious, happy 
and enchanting connection. 

The history of Vermont, Mr. President, is a somewhat peculiar 
19 



146 MIDDLEBimy COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

one. The political storms and tempests, which rocked the cradle 
of her infancy, were well calculated to develope and nourish that 
stern spirit of independence, and that quenchless love of liberty, 
for which she has ever since been distinguished. She was assailed 
on every side. From every point of the compass did danger press, 
and threaten her destruction. Not only was she exposed, in com- 
mon with her sister States, — then Colonies, — to the lurking savage, 
and a foreign foe ; but her people were compelled to contend with 
their neighbors of kindred origin, for the soil they had cleared and 
cultivated with so much toil, and the homes, which, rude and hum- 
ble though they may have been, it had yet cost them so much hard- 
ship and so many trials to prepare. But in every emergency that 
called, they were ready to respond to the rallying cry uttered by 
one of our early poets : — 

" From far Missiskoui's wild valleys to where 

" Passumpsic steals down from his wood-covered lair ; 

" From Shocticook river, to Lutierloch town, — 

'* Ho ! all to the rescue ! Vermonters, come down !" 

Ever prepared and prompt were they to defend their soil and their 
homes, whether against the " the legions of Hampshire and York ;" 
the wily and blood-thirsty Indian ; or the mercenary Hessian, with 
those who employed him to assist in the work of plundering and pil- 
laging their dwellings, and the attempt to subjugate those hardy 
men whose toil had reared them. 

True it is that at one dark period in the history of the State, 
when her frontier position exposed her to be overwhelmed by the 
armed thousands that were gathered on her borders, and stood ready 
to burst like a destroying thunderstorm over her domain, she was 
compelled to temporize, — to oppose policy to power, and pit diploma- 
cy against destruction. And for a time she was regarded as treach- 
erous to the common cause of freedom. But Washington knew 
her secret. Safely, too, did he keep it. Sir, I have seen, in his 
own hand, the letter in which he expressed his opinion of the poli- 
cy which the State had adopted. And although I cannot say that 
the "father of his country" fully approved of that policy, — prob- 
ably from the fact that he did not fully appreciate the imminence 
and magnitude of the impending danger, — yet no one can now 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 147 

question that if the State hood-winked and duped and deceived her 
enemy, it was justifiable under the paramount law of self-preserva- 
tion. 

Where then, let me ask, is the man who can stand up with the 
air of a patron, and say to her ; — To me — to my counsel and aid 
— are you indebted for your privileges, as a free and flourishing 
community ? Where, where on the face of this wide earth, are 
the people to whom she is bound by any oppressive obligations of 
gratitude for her existence as an independent State, or her present 
high and rising prosperity ? None, Sir, none but our fathers, — those 
who founded the State by their own personal toil and sacrifice, can 
claim, on this score, our reverence, our gratitude and love. They 
" would be free," and struck, themselves, the blow. And in main- 
taining their rights, — 

" More hardy than polished, more brave than refined, — 
" They shrunk from no hardships, — no danger declined." 

Indeed none but the most bold and hardy, the most resolute, dar- 
ing and determined, would ever have engaged in the trying and 
toilsome enterprise of subduing the primeval forests of the State, 
and building up a community, amidst all the privations and expo- 
sures, the hardships and dangers, which were to be continually en- 
countered. 

But, Sir, not only has this self-reliant spirit, which was inspired 
by necessity, and nurtured and strengthened by trial and toil, been 
a prominent feature in the character of our people > — but there has 
been prevalent among them a general intelligence, such as, we are 
proud to say, no State, nation or people can justly boast of surpass- 
ing. Where, Sir, can I be pointed to a community, whose citizens, 
generally, are so competently informed in regard to public affairs, 
and so well understand their substantial interests, with the measures 
best adapted to secure and advance them ? 

It is true that the ready discernment of their true interests, 
which our people generally exhibit, may sometimes appear to be too 
much confined, in its scope, to present results, and seem to place 
too little reliance on those rewards of effort, which are to be reaped 
only in a distant future. Yet this distrustful caution, carried 



148 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

though it doubtless may be to excess, at least serves to secure them 
from indulging in deceptive speculations ; from pursuing visionary 
and delusive schemes of advantage ; and from embarking in extrav- 
agant, uncertain, and perchance disastrous enterprises. 

But, Mr. President, I will not further trespass on your time, by 
way of commending them for their intelligence, shrewdness, and 
quick perception of their true and substantial interest. I do not 
assume that they are, in these respects, perfect. And if I could 
be brought, as magnetizers would say — "into communication" 
with the good people of the State, I would, in the profoundness of 
my wisdom, and the generosity of my heart, volunteer to them an 
excellent piece of counsel, — by following which they might be sure 
of raising yet higher their reputation, and of advancing still fur- 
ther their substantial and enduring prosperity. That counsel to 
them would be — to afford a continued countenance, and an enlarged 
and increasing support to Middlebury College, — both by pecuniary 
patronage, and bj presenting their sons, as pupils, to be educated 
within her halls. 

The following letter, from His Excellency Carlos Coolldge, 
LL. D., of the class of 1811, was then read: 

Windsor, August 20, 1850. 

Messrs. H. Eaton, E. D. Barber, P. Battell, Com. 

Gentlemen : — I feel the deepest disappointment in being 
obliged give up the cherished design of being with you in the in- 
teresting season of the College Jubilee. An overruling Providence 
has so ordered my steps and marshaled my duties, as to deprive me 
of the happiness (now lost, always unattained) of taking by the hand 
such of my classmates as God has preserved in life and permitted 
to, again, tread the classic ground. I can, only, pray that He will 

ever follow them with his choicest blessings. 

***** 

I am sure, you will feel that you need no protestations to con- 
vince you, that no common cause would keep me from attend- 
ance upon the occasion of your festive meeting. I am losing 
pleasures of the highest order granted to man, in the present life. 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 140 

May the j who taste of them realize therefrom all, and more than 
dl, which I have hoped to obtain. My heart is with you, believe 
me. With much respect, I am 

Your servant and Friend, 

Carlos Coolidge. 

XXI. " The Empire State : 

Her patronage of the College is illustrated in her appreciation 
of its sons." 

To this sentiment, John M. Parker, Esq., of Owego, New 
York, of the class of 1828, being called on, responded as follows : 

Mr. President : — I am most happy, as a son and citizen of New 
York, to acknowledge the compliment, and to respond, with all my 
heart, to the truth, contained in the sentiment just announced. 

While, Sir, the " Empire State " has not been behind her sisters 
of New England, in her appreciation of Schools and Colleges, and 
in providing for their support — she has, indeed, not been slow to 
discover the merits of this our College, nor to avail herself of the 
advantages which it offered to her sons. She saw in that spirit of 
devotion to sound learning and pure morals in which it was founded, 
and by which it has been sustained, a sure guaranty and pledge 
that its instructions would be thorough, and its moral influences 
healthful ; and she has sent up her sons, from year to year, from its 
first foundation to the present time, to receive here, that intellectu- 
al and moral training which should fit them to serve most usefully 
and honorably their generation and the world, — and well worthy of 
the confidence thus given her, has our Alma Mater proved herself, 
as she has sent back those sons — now her own Alumni — graced with 
her own honors, and fitted and destined to receive the confidence 
and the honors of their native State. 

Yes Sir, in the various professions and occupations of life — in 
her high and honorable places, has the " Empire State " reaped the 
rich fruits of her confidence in this institution, and been served 
most worthily and honorably by the sons of Middlebury . Her pul- 
pits have long been, and are still graced by their learning and pie- 
ty and eloquence. Her schools have enjoyed the benefits of their 
intelligent and persevering labors, and have illustrated their fitness 



150 MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

and capacity. Her highest judicial stations have been adorned 
by their eminent legal talents and acquirements, and her Halls of 
Legislation have reflected their knowledge, and wisdom and patri- 
otism. 

Living and shining examples of the appreciation in which New 
York has held the sons of our College, meet us in all the walks and 
stations to which I have alluded. 

I must not claim all I might, lest my claim be disproportionate, 
and it be said that the spirit of the motto of New York, in making 
your sons her own, has new made them. I may speak of Howe, 
whose Seminary at Canandaigua for so many years has been a light 
shining upon the paths of the young men of Western New York. 
It has lighted some to high stations, and the Teacher's modest of- 
fice, most useful if most unpretending, reflects the praise of mod- 
esty even upon him who mentions him. I must not mention Be- 
man. — Nelson deserves not to be mentioned, when if there be 
merit in his character and high station, you deserve that he should 
be here. I need not mention Willard, whose name, with his writ- 
ten opinion, is ready for your first volume of Reports forthcoming. 
But, Sir, there is one to whom I may be permitted to refer, who be- 
ing dead yet is heard here, — whose life, now a part of history, 
was a living illustration of the truth of the sentiment proposed — 
Silas Wright, — to whose Eulogy we have just listened from the 
glowing lips of our own " glorious Hough," and whose name brings 
up the memory of one, whom New York delighted to honor. 

The lateness of the hour, Sir, forbids my detaining you longer ; 
and I will only say, that in the numbers here assembled, from the 
four quarters of that great State, who have come up to this jubilee 
to greet one another, and to pay their tribute of love and venera- 
tion to their honored Alma Mater, you have a pledge that there 
still beats in the heart of the " Empire State," a feeling of devo- 
tion to her and her interests, which time cannot diminish, and which 
adversity and change can neither destroy nor weaken. 

XXII. " Rutland County : 

From her beautiful landscape were derived the choicest plants 
of our Academical garden." 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 



151 



Re v. Edward J. Hallock, Principal of Castlcton Seminary, 
of the class of 1833, on being called for, said : 

Mr. Chairman : — The sentiment just expressed alludes to the 
contributions of funds and scholars, made by the inhabitants of Rut- 
kind County to our " Alina Mater," and the high regard there en- 
tertained towards her. Rut why, Sir, have so many of our youth 
found their way to these College Halls, and why have the good 
people of our county aided this Institution by their money, sympa- 
thies and prayers ? Sir, the reply is at hand. We recognize her 
worth and her benign and far-reaching influence, upon every inter- 
est and profession in the county. She has furnished a very large 
number of our Common School and High School Teachers. The 
voice of her sons has been heard at the bar, and in the councils of 
the State. Their talents have been displayed in the profession 
of Medicine, and large contributions have been made by them to 
those who are now ministering at our altars. Indeed, her history 
is interwoven with all our interests, civil, educational and profession- 
al. The youth of our county have indeed been sent here, but to 
exchange the rough material for polished marble, the gold in the 
ore for the brilliant coin. We have sent them with minds untrained 
and undeveloped, and they have returned with mental and moral 
powers enlarged, invigorated and adorned by College life, and with 
the high purposes of action and duty. Rut we are disposed to a 
more liberal view. We rejoice to see our cherished College making 
a deep impression upon the age in which we live. We contemplate 
with pleasure and conscious pride her moral and intellectual influ- 
ence, amid the enchanting scenes of enlightened and refined life, 
and amid the moral desolations of heathen lands. There is no na- 
tion unvisited by her sons ; no manly and benevolent enterprise to 
which they have not imparted intellectual and moral energy. Is it 
surprising then, Sir, that we sustain and cherish by our beneficence 
and sympathies, an Institution w r hich has poured forth her treasures 
of knowledge and moral influence, not only upon our own country 
but broad-cast upon the world ? Sir, I say it with emphasis : we 
have received more than we have given. Her worth to us cannot 
be fully appreciated. Middlebury College cannot be spared by 



152 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



Rutland County, nor by the world. Her career hitherto has been 
beneficent and glorious, but a more glorious destiny lies before her. 
This day, which summons home her sons, is the beginning of a 
brighter page in her history. Upon this occasion a thousand asso- 
ciations and recollections which have slumbered for years, rush up- 
on the mind with all the interest and freshness of the moment of 
their birth. Let us, then, amid the exuberance of interest and joy 
which this occasion inspires, come with our purses and hearts, to 
the rescue and aid of an institution, which in our youth effected 
so much to form our character and ennoble our destiny. 

Rev. Professor Butler was again called for and said : 

Mr. President : — I am disposed to upbraid your Committee of 
Arrangements. Why have they forgotten Shakspear's advice — 

Tax not so poor a voice 

To slander speaking an}' more than once. 

Why call on me to speak, when I can add nothing to the interest- 
ing details which you have just heard from my leader ? Why dis- 
quiet me, when you have feasted on too fat things to relish such 
fare as my little utmost can coldly furnish forth ? Why force a 
prosaic man to speak of a poetical toast ? I shall therefore speak 
as reluctantly as I ever held my tongue, or as most members of 
Congress sit down when their hour is out. 

What I state must be general, and taken from details, in respect 
to this use of them, gathered by accident. In 1839, of all the stu- 
dents in all Colleges from Vermont — 260, — Rutland and Addison 
Counties supplied one third ; of Vermont students in Vermont Col- 
leges, 184, they supplied nearly three-sevenths ; of Vermont stu- 
dents in Middlebury College, — 81, Addison and Rutland Counties 
supplied three-fourths, there being from the former forty-seven, or, 
with ten abroad, one to four hundred twenty-seven inhabitants, — from 
Rutland County thirteen, a less number for Middlebnry than her 
usual proportion, as I will proceed to show. In the twenty years 
following 1820, a term which includes that of the highest prosperity 
of our Foster-Mother, of the sum total of her nurselings, three-elev- 
enths were from her own Addison, two-elevenths from the sister 
next older, Rutland ; two-elevenths were from the remainder of the 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 153 



State, two-elevenths from New York, and two-elevenths from all 
other States, "and the rest of mankind." The proportion most defi- 
cient is with those who have most shoulders to bear it, the greatest 
surplus with the two counties, nearly equally. This, Sir, is history 
in fractions. If figures do not lie, broken numbers yet may tell 
the truth. 

I do not mean to lay on you a burden of statistics which you are 
in no mood to bear, yet will venture to mention another fact by 
which the sentiment before us seems warranted. Of the fifty-three 
members of the Rutland County bar, who have been liberally ed- 
ucated, twenty-four, well nigh half the whole, have boasted of Mid- 
dlebury as their Alma Mater. There is reason to believe that a 
similar proportion of medical and clerical men in that county, have 
rejoiced in the same mother of their minds. If I may judge of oth- 
er towns by my native town — Rutland, the county has sent 
forth at least as many scholars as she has received. If this view 
has any justness, Rutland County is not the least among the coun- 
ties of our highland State, for out of it have come a goodly com- 
pany, now swaying the sceptres of that power which knowledge 
gives, and whose names the world will not willingly let die. 

Some are not. You have heard in guarded eulogy the names of 
Mallory and Wilcox. In all your academical garden you had no 
nobler plants. The genius of Mallory was like the cardinal-flower, 
vigorous, brilliant, and imposing ; the memory of Wilcox is fragrant 
as the lily of the valley. To-day, of the living, by the license of 
poetry if not of rhetoric, two statesmen were presented as jewels — 
(Hon. Messrs. Buel and Meacham) favored sons of Cornelia, not 
by partiality — " non tarn in groemio, quam in sermone mains." 
In conclusion, Mr. President, I present to you as sprung from the 
same locality, the name of the oldest living Alumnus — 

Judge Henry Chipman, of Detroit : Clarum et venerabile 
nomen, et jucundum nobis. 

XXIII. " Addison County : 

Named from the love of letters, though founded in the train of 
war. Refined by learning and guided by civic courage, 
may she dwell in all the blessings of peace. " 
20 



154 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

Julius A. Beckwith, Esq., of Middlebur y, of the class of 1840, 
being called for, declined to speak, but offered the following senti- 
ment : 

Our Alma Mater : 

Though like Arethusa she be hidden for a season, yet like her 
shall she rise again, under happier skies, — a Fountain ren- 
dered purer by her trials, and immortal by her triumphs ! 

XXIV. " The Press: 

The doom of the old regime. By it the single free city be- 
comes the limitless Republic." 

Samuel Mills Conant, Esq., of the class of 1844, resident at 
Brandon, being called on, responded as follows : 

Thought, and words, (which are the symbols of thought), are the 
chief forces in the government of the world. It is singular enough 
to reflect that a thing seemingly so evanescent as human speech, 
should be the strongest and most enduring of human works. " How 
forcible are right words !" overcoming whatever is strongest, and 
subordinating whatever is most rebellious in the soul of man. The 
Parthenon, and the Pyramids, are more perishable than " words 
fitly spoken." TJiey are melting, and shall melt, under the influ- 
ences of time ; but the words of Homer are no older now than 

when 

" That blind Bard on the Chian strand, 



Beheld the Iliad and the Odyssey 

Rise to the swelling of the voiceful Sea.'' 

Accordingly, it is interesting to notice who have been the great 
men in the real experience of the human race. The whole royal 
family of England since the Conqueror, are less than one Shaks- 
peare, who was guiltless of a drop of noble blood : less than one 
Francis Bacon, to whose nobility the King's letters patent added 
not a plume. The heroes of the classic time, are growing to be as 
tombless as the book worms that devour their names ; but its poets, 
as Tennyson gloriously sings, " have enriched the blood of the 
world." 

The descent of this unacknowledged sceptre is an equally pleas- 
ing observation. See it first with the Minstrel of the earlier ages; 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 155 

— some blind beggar singing immortal ballads for his bread ; or 
some less cultivated bard whose ruder minstrelsy nerved the virtue 
of northern Vandals, and laid the foundations of an English or a 
German Literature. From the minstrel the inheritance descended 
to the Orator ; not the rhetorical anatomy of our Newspaper Age, 
but a new phasis of Genius ; and radiant, like the other, with 
" The light that never was on sea or shore." 

The progress of civilization continually changes the vehicle, but not 
destroys the power. It re-appears in the Sage, the Priest, the 
Preacher, the Politician ; — each in form the product of his time, 
but all strong with the same strength and ministers of the same 
power. 

Our own age has its own form of Literature. The new dynasty 
has developed its energies and established its Empire, impercepti- 
bly, almost surreptitiously. So mean in its beginnings as to excite 
neither alarm nor hope, and still so lightly regarded as to receive 
credit for but a small portion of its influence, it has been too like 
those leankine dreamed of by the Egyptian king, which, though they 
devoured all their well-fed predecessors, were yet never the fatter. 
One by one it has usurped the places of those who sit in Moses* 
seat ; and the world is just waking up to discover that the despised 
Press is already weil-nigh at the siunmit of human affairs. No 
longer a mere distributor of current news, the newspaper has ex- 
panded so as to cover the whole domain of knowledge, and gain a 
voice in every department of influence. It is the pulpit of the peo- 
ple ; the parliament of the World. 

When we speak of the transcendent influence of the Newspaper, 
we of course imply that it must be the organ of a certain degree of 
ability, and of some moral purpose. It is not intended that mere 
negation and stolidity can acquire a positive quality and become in- 
fluential, even by the aid of types. Archimedes, by means of his 
lever, could move the world with his own weight. But no imple- 
ment has been invented so cumiing as to move the world with no 
weight at all. 

" De nihilo nihil, in nihilum nil posse reverti." 



156 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



The world undoubtedly sustains a class of men, (and they have 
seeemed, it must be confessed, to entertain a peculiar partiality for 
the editorial profession) having no mind of their own, and only a 
deplorably small delegation from the minds of others, — men destitute 
alike of independence and of insight, — without vision enough to see 
the right, nor integrity enough to love it, nor manliness enough to 
do it ; of such as these I do not speak. 

" The earth hath bubbles as the water hath, 
And these are of them." 

Whether the Press is to retain it's omnipotence, and what is to 
be the sum of its influence upon the world's interest, cannot now 
be foretold. If, after all, it shall prove recreant to its commission, 
— if the newspaper shall be found to be a mere dishonesty ; a weak- 
headed game of policy ; the frivolous entertainment of an hour ; or 
the servile drudge of party and ambition ; it will undoubtedly yield 
its vineyard in due time to better husbandmen. " If thou altogeth- 
er holdest thy peace (said Mordecai to the imperial Jewess) then 
help and deliverance shall arise from some other place, — but thou 
and thy father's house shall be destroyed." The progress of the 
world is as sure as God's Providence is beneficent. Every nation's 
prophets have foretold a millennium. All nature renews the hope. 
It rises with every morning, and every evening finds its promise on 

the sky. 

'* We may not live to see the day 
But earth shall glisten in the ray, 
Of the good time coming !" 

XXV. "The Union: 

The electric circuit of national life, unending if unbroken. " 

Calvin T. Hulburb, Esq., of Brasher Falls, New York, 
of the Class of 1829, was called for, and responded as follows : 

Mr. President : — In any other place, I should at once decline 
such an unexpected call to respond to a public toast, but here in 
the presence of Alma Mater, I would not be even seemingly a re- 
creant son. 

Standing amidst so many that from North and South, from East 
and West, have come up to join hands and interchange greetings, — 
talk over the peerless past, the calmer present, the uncertain fu- 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE DINNER. 157 

ture, — I feel I hardly need say a word in exposition of the appro- 
priateness of the sentiment. Do we not all love our whole country, 
— our glorious Union, the better for this day ? for this privilege ? 

As we have wandered through those halls, and over the College 
grounds ; and amid the trees, long years ago planted by our hands, 
— called up the names and familiar faces of those that were there 
with us, and now, alas ! are not ; — have we not all felt, who of us 
would strike the parricide blow — who of us would utter the fatal 
word, that should prevent the recurrence of such a day, — if not for 
us, yet for our children ? 

As we have to-day looked off upon those mountains that of old 
so often met the eye as morning-land, or upon the many peaks that 
sentinel the out-skirts of evening-land — how fresh and familiar the 
dear objects whose images we have carried in our hearts alemg the 
dusty thoroughfare of life '.—Have we not felt in the words of one 
of our college b^rds : — 

O, ye bright days of youthful joy, 
^How swift your flight has been ! 
Shall I not rise an ardent boy, 
And live you o'er again ? 

And now, even as we love and prize our Alma Mater, so let us — 
so let us all, in every clime of our extended land — love and reverence 
and prize our glorious and happy Union. I see, Sir, the shadows 
are rapidly lengthening over the evening mountains, and I forbear : 

" Though we asunder part, 

And taste an inward pain, 

Yet we may still be joined in heart, 

And hope to meet again." 



Other sentiments had been proposed, to which responses were ex- 
pected, but the lateness of the hour and the increasing darkness 
urged the exercises to a conclusion. 

Before dissolving, the immense congregation arose from the tables, 
and led by the band, in the tune of " Old Hundred," joined with 
one voice, in the Doxology — 

" From all that dwell below the skies." 



158 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



EVENING SESSION. 

Thursday Evening, August 22. 

An adjourned session of the Associated Alumni, was held at 
the Vestry of the Congregational Church in the evening of Thurs- 
day. Dr. Bradford L. Wales, was called to the chair. Rev. Dr. 
Beman presented a report from the Committee previously appoint- 
ed, by which it was proposed to raise the sum of Thirty-five Thou- 
sand Dollars within one year, for the relief and improved endow- 
ment of the College. The proposition was adopted and pecuniary 
pledges being called for, eight subscriptions of five hundred dollars 
each were made, and smaller sums subscribed, amounting to seven 
thousand dollars. A committee was appointed to present the sub- 
scription, on the succeeding day, to the Alumni remaining in town, 
and report their proceedings to the Corporation, then to be in ses- 
sion. 

The meeting was not numerously attended, but was conducted in 
a spirit of high and resolute determination, that its results should 
be a substantial memorial of the interest excited by the occasion. 
The discussions were conducted by Messrs. A. Bingham, Hallock, 
J. Hough, Jr., J. Mattocks, Wales, Ormsbee, Farwell, and others, 
and the meeting adjourned at a late hour. 



APPENDIX. 



Additional Letters received by the Committee of Arrangements. 



From Rt. Rev. John P. K. Hbnshaw, D. D., Bishop of Rhode 
Island, of the class of 1808, resident at Providence : 

Providence, June Gth, 1850. 
Dear Sir : — Your favor postmarked May 31st, informing me of 
my being appointed the alternate of Dr. Olin, to preach the Semi- 
centennial Sermon, before the Associated Alumni of Middlebury 
College, at the next Commencement, seems to demand from me an 
immediate answer, to guard against a disappointment which might 

possibly ensue, if my reply were delayed to a later period. 
* * * # * * 

I feel deeply interested for the continued success and prosperity 
of our " Alma Mater," aucl would be happy to be present at the 
approaching assembly of her Sons, but I fear it will not be in my 
power to enjoy that pleasure. 

Very respectfully Your obed't servant, 

J. P. K. Henshaw. 

From William Swetland, Esq., of Pittsburgh, N. Y., of 
the class of 1808. This letter was presented after the 16th toast: 

Plattsburgh, Aug, 5, 1850. 
Dear Sir : — The last mail brought me your favor of 1st inst. 
I pray you to accept my grateful acknowledgments, as well for the 
invitation it contained, as for the very friendly and cordial manner 
in which it was communicated. I do not know what would afford 
me higher gratification, than to revisit once more the scenes where 
the labors and enjoyments of College life were experienced, and to 
hold intercourse again, though but transient, with such old friends 
and acquaintances, of that period, as the rapid course of forty-two 
years has not swept from the stage of life, and who may be present 
on the very interesting occasion to which you refer. I fear that I 
must be deprived of an enjoyment so much desired. I have for a 



160 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



short time been unusually ill for me, and most of that time confined 
to my house. This warm weather has a peculiarly prostrating ef- 
fect upon me. There is no reasonable hope that I shall regain suf- 
ficient physical strength to be able to make the journey and attend 
the exercises of the occasion. 

I need not say, that while I submit with resignation to this de- 
privation, I feel it to be a sore disappointment. I would that I 
could contrive some way to exchange friendly greetings with those 
early College and other friends and acquaintances, whom time has 
spared and who may there assemble. There can be but few ; but 
because they are few , stronger sympathies and emotions will be called 
into action. 

With much consideration, respectfully and truly yours, 

Wm. S wetland. 

From Rev. Herman Hooker, D. D., of Philadelphia, of the 
class of 1825: 

My Dear Sir : — It seems fairly to be expected that I should be 
at the Jubilee of the College, and I doubt not it would gratify you 
as well as myself, and yet I see no prospect of my being able. It 
would be an undertaking for me with my health to travel the dis- 
tance between us ; but what is overruling, my business at this sea- 
son cannot be left to such help as I can command. As to my books 
for the library, of course I will send them, if an opportunity occurs. 
I think you may look for them by express. 

Your's truly, 

Phila. Aug. 12, 1850. H. Hooker. 

From Hon. Solomon Foot, of Rutland, of the class of 1826, 

President of the Associated Alumni : 

Rutland. 14 Aug., 1850. 
Gentlemen ; — Your note of the 12th inst., found me so ill as 
most effectually to disqualify me for the post of presiding officer on 
a public occasion. I hope still to be present at the Jubilee, but it 
being at present quite doubtful, you will have your eye on some one 
else to preside at the table. 

I am up to-day for the first time in a week, and shall be on hand 
if I am advised it will be safe. 

Truly Your's, Solomon Foot. 

From Hon. James Meacham, M. C, of the class of 1832, res- 
ident at Middlebury. This letter was received with warm applau- 
ses, after the Eleventh toast: 

Washington, Aug. 16, 1850. 
Gentlemen: — I regret that I am not able to meet with vou in 
the coming Anniversary of Middlebury College. Ill health — I 



trust temporary — forbids my travelling at this season ; besides this, 
I should not feel warranted in risking the loss of a vote, at this point 
of time, unless demanded by some overruling necessity. 

I have looked forward to this Meeting of our Alumni in anticipa- 
tion of great pleasure. I wish to march again under the banner of 
my class ; to hold communion once more with those who passed to- 
gether through our Collegiate course ; to see the remnant of our 
venerated Instructors ; to meet the members of the Faculty, with 
whom I have been associated, and the young men whom I have 
aided to instruct. I wish to see in one gathering my literary ances- 
tors and posterity. I wish also to take part in welcoming to the ju- 
bilee of Middlebury College those generous members of our com- 
munity who, without personal obligations, have proved themselves 
Friends of our Institution. Let not that class of men be forgotten. 
Could I be present in your meeting I should give my toast, " wet 
or dry": 

The Benefactors of Middlebury College : 
May their names and deeds be honored, and may the race be 
multiplied and replenish the earth. 

Truly Yours, J. Meacham. 

From Rev. John J. Owen, D. D., of the class of 1828, Profes- 
sor of Ancient Languages in the Free Academy, New York: 

Gloversville, N. Y., Aug., 22, 1850. 

My Dear Sir : — Your letter has just reached me, having been 
forwarded from the New York Post Office. The disappointment, 
which I flatter myself you have felt in my not being present at the 
Semi-Centennial Celebration, if increased ten fold, could not equal 
mine. The health of my wife imperiously demanded that I should 
select another place of sojournment than the one we contemplated. 
I had hoped, however, myself to be present on the occasion above 
referred to, until I was forced to relinquish the idea. Be assured 
of my great regret, and of my cordial sympathy in the festivities 
of the occasion. 

I wrote to my publishers some days ago, to send by Express a 
set of my books, but I fear from your letter, that they have not 
reached you yet. I shall be extremely sorry, if through the neg- 
ligence of my publisher the books have not been sent. 

I received a letter from Dr. Conant, a few days since, in which 
I regret to learn, that ho could not be able to visit you this season. 
Dr. H. Smith visited me in New York. These gentlemen, as 
scholars, are among the brightest ornaments of the College. 

This is the day of your jubilee. The sun shines brightly as I 
21 



am now writing, (7 o'clock A. M.,) and I hope his beams will be 
shed in unclouded splendor upon you this day. My thoughts shall 
be with you. 

Respectfully Yours. J. J. Owen. 

From Charles B. Adams, Esq., A. M., late Professor of Chem- 
istry and Natural History: 

Amherst, Mass., Aug. 26, 1850. 

Gentlemen : — Your polite invitation to attend the interesting 
celebration at Middlebury, reached me at New Haven, Ct., on the 
22d. It would have afforded me great pleasure to have been pres- 
ent, but it seemed necessary to attend the Scientific Convention, 
which was held in New Haven, during the present week. 

It has afforded me great pleasure to learn by the papers and 
from visitors, that the exercises of the occasion were deeply inter 
esting. May they result in substantial guaranties of the continued 
usefulness of the College. 

With great respect, I remain, 

Most sincerely Yours, 

C. B. Adams. 

From Rev. Stephen Olin, D. D., LL. D., of the class of 1820, 

President of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut : 

Middletown, Ct., November 22, 1850. 

My Dear Sir : — I felt, almost painfully, the disappointment 
of being unable to respond to the wishes of the Committee of ar- 
rangements at the late Jubilee of Middlebury College. Participa- 
ting very fully — to excess perhaps, in the interest and excitement of 
the occasion, I was all the mOre desirous of giving expression to my 
dutiful, fervent attachment to " our Alma Mater" at the festive 
meeting, for having been prevented by severe illness from perform- 
ing the part assigned me in the more serious exercises of the day. 
This gratification too was denied me, but neither the vicissitudes 
oi health, nor the lapse of time, can deprive me of the fund of agreea- 
ble recollections which I brought away from that delightful meeting 
with old friends, beloved class-mates and honored instructors. After 
a separation of thirty years, it was an unlooked for happiness, to 
greet, in the full possession of their faculties, — their eyes not dim, 
nor their natural force abated, one of the earliest and ablest Pro- 
fessors of the College, and the venerable ex-President, to whose 
truly philosophical teachings I have ever felt myself specially in- 
debted. Though I was never sensible of any abatement in my 
early devoted attachment to my Alma Mater, this filial sentiment 
was raised to enthusiasm by the reunion of so many of her sons. 
I do not allow myself to fear that so much eloquent zeal and loyalty 
as was then exhibited, will expend itself in glowing words and brave 



APPENDIX. 163 



Resolutions. I confidently look for vigorous, persevering efforts in 
behalf of the College, and anticipate for it a long career of honor 
and prosperity. It cannot be that the patriotic, intelligent, educa- 
tion-loving, people of Vermont, will look coldly upon the life-strug- 
gles of the oldest collegiate institution in the state, which has al- 
ready supplied for their highest exigencies so many good and true 
men. The cause of learning and religion cannot afford to discard 
this tried, effective auxiliary, nor to spare the hallowed traditions 
and associations, with which the good fruits of fifty years of faithful 
services have already enriched Middlebury College. 
Yours very respectfully, 

Stephen Olin. 



AN EXTRACT, 

From a letter of Hon. Henry Chipman of Detroit, of the class 
of 1803, received by the Committee on the English Catalogue : 

Detroit, March, 1, 1850. 

I comply with your request with great pleasure, and will endeav- 
or to recall from the shadows of the past, some facts connected with 
the subjects upon which you have addressed me. My removal and 
continued residence at a distance from my Alma Mater and college 
associates, have necessiarily weakened my recollections of College 
life in some things, though they have not lessened, but rather in- 
creased the interest with which they are associated in memory. 

I went to Middlebury at the age of fifteen, to pursue my studies 
preparatory to admission to college, in November or December 
1799. What was then the new and only college edifice was in an 
unfinished state. The north half only was completed for the recep- 
tion of students, the other was not completed till the next spring 

and summer. The Commencement of August 1800 was, as 

you know, the era of the first formation and admission of the regu- 
lar scholastic classes at Middlebury College. Two classes, the 
Freshman and Sophomore, certainly, were admitted at that time. 
The two first classes that graduated, you also know, consisted of 
four persons, Aaron Petty, who graduated in 1802, and Walter 
Chapin, Henry Chipman and Edward S. Stewart, who entered 
first as Sophomores, and graduated in 1803. 



i 

164 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 


! 

REGISTER OF THE ALUMNI WHO RECORDED THEIR NAMES. 


NAMES. 


OCCUPATION. 


RESIDENCE. 


Class op 1805. j 


| 




Amos Bingham, 


Minister 


Philadelphia, Pa. 


Luther P. Blodgett, 


do. 


Otsego County, N. Y. 


Joel Davis, > 


do. 


Croydon, N. H. 


Salem Town, 




Aurora, Cayuga Co.,N.Y. 


Daniel Hall, 


i 


Troy, N.Y. 


1807. i 


! 




N. S. S, Beman, 


Minister, 


Troy, N. Y. 


William Slade, | 


j 


Middleburv. 


1*08. j 


! 




Luther Sheldon, ! 


Minister. 


Easton, Mass. 


Ralph Robinson. \ 


do. 


New Haven, N. Y. 


1810. j 


i 


- 


Ephraim H. Newton, 


Farmer, \ 


Cambridge, N.Y. 


Zimri Howe, 


Lawyer, j 


Castleton. 


John S. Pettibone. i 


Farmer, 


Manchester, 


1811. i 






Charles Davis, ; 


Lawyer, 


Danville. 


Calvin Hitchcock. j 


Minister, ; 


Randolph, Mass. 



1812. 
Seth S. Arnold. 

1813. 
F. R. Cossitt, 
O. S. Hoyt, 
Reuben Smith. 

1814. 

Nehemiah Cutter, 

1816. 

Hiram Bingham, 
David Root, 
Asa Messer , 

1817. 

Jacob N. Loomis. 

1819. 
Joel Rice. 

1820. 
Roswell Pettibone, 
Moses Ordway, 
Ora Pearson. 
Daniel P. Thompson, 
Cyrus D, Sheldon, 
Stephen Olin, 
Ozias Sevmour. 

1821. 

Roswell Harris, 
S. H. Hodges, 
Silas Baldwin, 
Josiah F. Goodhue, 



Minister, 

Minister, 
do. 
do. 

Physician, 



Ack worth, N. H. 

<Lebanon, Tenn. 
[Hinesburgh. 
iBallston, N. Y. 

uPepperell, Mass. 



Late missionary, S. I. Chester, Mass. 
Minister, Guilford, Conn. 

Geneva, N. Y. 



Minister, 

Physician. 

Minister, 
Missionary in 
Minister, 
Lawver, 
do. _ 
University, 
Lawyer, 

Teacher, 
Lawyer, 

do. 
Minister, 



Craftsbury. 

Bridport. 

^Canton, N. Y. 
sWisconsin. 
JBatton. 
hMontpelier. 
JTroy, N. Y. 
Middletown, Conn. 
| Middleburv. 

^Rrattleboro.' 
jRutland. 

Canton, N. Y. 

Shoreham. 



APPENDIX. 



165 



NAMES. 



OCCUPATION. 



RESIDENCE. 



A. C. Moore, 
Ezra June. 

1822. 

George C. Beckwith, 
Joseph Hurlbut, 
R. C. Hand, 
William Sargeant, 
Samuel Miller, 
Lyman Mathews, 
Henry Lewis. 

1823. 

John B. Shaw, 
Miner G. Pratt, 
Edgar L. Ormsbee, 
Harvey Button, 
L. L. Tilden, 
M. Clark. 
Eli B. Smith, 
Lewis McDonald, 
1824. 

Lyman Gilbert, 
Bradford L. Wales, 
A. Latham, 

1825. 

Joel Fisk, 
H. O, Higley, 
Horace Eaton. 

1826. 
S. H.Keeier, 
Philip Battell, 
J. S. Bushnell. 

182T. 

Lucius M. Purdy, 
Enoch C. Wines, 
Joseph S. Clark. 
1828. 
Benjamin P. Stone, 
N. C. Clark, 
Samuel W. Cozzens, 
John M. Parker, 
David B. Tower, 
Samuel Everts, 
Frederick W. Hopkins, 

1829. 

Edward D. Barber, 
Edwin F. Hatfield, 
Samuel Storrs Howe, 
Truman M. Post, 
Calvin T. Hulburd. 
Richard Bolton, 
Daniel Roberts, Jr. 
Cyrus Farwell. 

1830. 
A. W. Buel, 
Romeo H. Hoyt, 



Lawver, 
do. 

Minister, 
do. 
do. 

Lawyer, 



Minister, 



(Pittsburgh, N. Y, 
[Brandon. 

Boston, Mass. 
jNassau, N. Y., 
Bennington. 
Troy, N. Y. 
| Rochester, N. Y. 
[Cornwall. 
[Mobile, Ala. 

Fairhaven. 



do. 


Auburn, Mass. 


Lawyer, 


Rutland. 




Wallingford. 




Cornwall. 


Cashier Bank, 


Poultney. 


Theo. Seminary, ■■, 


New Hampton, N. H 




Middlebury. 


Minister, i 


West Newton, Mass. 


Physician, 


Randolph, Mass. 


Manufacturer, 


Lyme, N. H. 


Minister, 


Irasburgh. 


do. 


Castleton. 


College, 


Middlebury. 


Minister, 


Calais, Me. 




Middlebury. 


Lawyer, 


<fo 




St. Martins, La. 


Minister, 


East Hampton, L. 1. 


Merchant, 

1 


Augusta, Ga. 


Minister, 


Concord, N. H. 


do- 


'Elgin, 111. 


do. 


Milton, Mass. 


Lawyer, 


tOwego, N, Y. 


Teacher, 


1 Boston. Mass. 




Cornwall. 


Lawyer, 


[Rutland. 


Lawyer, 


[Middlebury . 


Minister, 


uSTew York City. 


do. 


Iowa City, Iowa. 


do. 


St. Louis, Mo. 


Merchant, 


Brasher Falls. N.Y. 


C. E. and land agent, 


jPontotoc, Miss. 


Lawyer, 


. M anchester. 


do. 


Dorset. 



Lawver, 
do. 



Detroit, Micb. 
[St. Albans. 



APPENDIX. 



167 



NAMES. 



OCCUPATION 



RESIDENCE. 



David L. Hough, 
Samuel Hurlbut, 
George S. Swift, 
W. A. Howard, 
John Bradshaw, 
Edwin Everts, 
A, H. Parmelee, 
John G. Saxe, 

1840. 

Edward J. Phelps. 
George Page, 
Edward C. S. Miller, 
Julius A. Beckwith, 
Malhew I). Gordon, 

1841. 

Adam K. Miller, 

D. M. Linslev, 

1842. 

Dugald Stewart, 
Charles L. Allen, 

1843. 

Samuel W. Bates, 
John C. Churchill, 

E. H. Caswell, 
C. C. P. Clark, 

1844. 
Samuel M. Conant, 
J. G. S. Hitchcock, 
Orlando Wooster. 
Charles K. Wright, 
Jacob E. Blakely, 

^ 1845. 

C. H. Samson, 
Joseph A. Bent, . 
Claudius B. Smith, 
Lavius F. Chapman, 
Silas G. Randall, 
Luther F. Locke. 
Joseph H. Barrett, 

1846, 

L. P. Sawver, 
P. H. Sanford, 
Daniei A. Bowe, 
John W. Stewart, 

1847. 

V. H. Deane, 

P. J. H. Myers, 

J. W. Hunt, 

C. C Bixby, 

G. N, Boardman, 

W. W. Winchester, 

Ira P. Burwell, 

1848. 
Sumner Albee, 



j Lawyer, 

Minister, 
[Clerk of Su. & Co. 

Lawyer, 
\ Teacher, 

Farmer. 

Minister, 
| Lawyer, 






Lawyer, 

Physician, 
Teacher, 
Lawyer, 
Minister, 



Lawyer, 
Physician, 

Lawyer, 
do. 

Minister, 
Physician, 

Editor, 
Physician, 
Lawyer, 
do. 



Merchant, 

College, 

Teacher, 

Merchant, 

Minister. 

Physician, 

Editor, 

Teacher, 

Teacher, 
Lawyer, 

Teacher, 
Minister, 
Teacher, 



College, 



Teacher, 



}La Salle, 111. 
ji\ew Haven. 
C'ts. Middlebury. 
I Detroit, Mich. 
IChamplain, N. Y. 
< Waltham. 
JAddison, N. Y. 
JBurlington, 
\ 

;Burlington. 
JRutland. 
jWiliiston. 
^Middlebury. 
JHollis, N. H. 

|St. James, La 

'Watertown, N. Y. 
< 

SMiddleburv. 

do 
| 

^Boston, Mass. 
: Oswego, N. Y. 
-'Stock bridge. 
<Middlebury. 

I 

<Brandon. 

< 

'Middlebury. 

fShoreham. 

1 

JAllentown, Pa. 

jMiddlebury. 

^Ludlow. 

Victoria, Texas. 

Essex, N. Y. 

Nashua, N. H. 

Middlebury. 

JNashua, N. H. 
<Burlington. 
JGolbrook, N. H. 
^Middlebury. 

^Randolph, Mass. 
jClintonville, N. Y. 
jPly mouth, Mass. 

JAnd. Theo. Sem, 

do 
sMiddlebury. 

jBoston, Mass. 



1 

168 


MIDDLEBURT COLLEGE JUBILEE. 




NAMES. OCCUPATION. 


residence. 


E. H. Blanchard, j 

George Dana, \ 

W. A. Farnsworth, I 

J. E. Rankin, College, 

Davis J. Rich, \ 

1849. 
Asa S. Jones. \ 
Sewall Sargeant, I 
Eleazer Sherman. \ 
Oliver W. Winchester, $ 


And. Theo. Sem. 

Brandon. 

And. Theol. Sem. 

Middlebury. 

Shoreham. 


i 
i 
i 

i 


OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATED ALUMNI. 


! 


President. 




1 
J 


SOLOMON FOOT, 


Rutland. 




Vice Presidents. 






Stephen Olin, D. D., 


Middletown, Ct. 


I 


Ezra June, 


Brandon. 


i 
1 


Joseph Battell, 


New York. 


j 


A. W. Buel, 


Detroit, Michigan. 




Treasurer. 






J. S. BUSHNELL, 


Middlebury. 




Corresponding Secretary. 




R. S. CUSHMAN, 


Orwell. 




Recording Secretary 






Dugald Stewart. 


Middlebury. 




Central Committee. 






Julius A. Beckwith, Middlebury. 




William H. Parker, 


a 


irrmr..- . .-..:.-isr. 


George S. Swift, 


- - 



APPENDIX. 1G9 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE. 



Extract from an article in the Quarto ly Registe # r. 



BY REV. PROF. FOWLER. 

The early settlers of Vermont retained a strong attachment to the civil, religious 
and literal y institutions of the older New England States, from which they emi- 
grated. In many an opening in the wilderness, on both sides of the Green Moun- 
tain range, there were those who looked back, with lively regret, to the church, the 
school-house and the college, as to the glories of a New England landscape. Their 
hereditary love for these institutions, was quickened by their privations ; and they 
carried in their hearts, the habitual determination to establish them among them- 
selves, whenever their means should become adequate. 

Accordingly, as soon as a sufficient number were collected in a neighborhood, a 
school district was organized, upon the pattern set them by their pilgrim fathers ; 
when a village became populous and flourishing, the inhabitants began to think of 
having an academy, or a temporary grammar school. It was therefore to be ex- 
pected that in due time, a college would be established, that would, in its influence, 
be the same to Vermont, that Harvard and Yale had been to Massachusetts and 
Connecticut. 

The actual establishment of such an institution, was, however, from one cause 
and another, delayed for a considerable period. The fierce disputes between Ver- 
mont and each of the States — New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts — in- 
volving the question whether, like Poland, she should be partitioned ; the revolu- 
tionary war, in which she took an active and an honorable part, notwithstanding 
she was not a member of the confederacy; and afterwards, the subject of admis- 
sion into the Union; so occupied the attention of the people, that nothing could be 
done. But in the course of events, the war passed by, those disputes were 
settled, and Vermont was admitted into the Union in January, 1791. In Novem- 
ber, the same year, the legislature passed an act, establishing the University of Ver- 
mont at Burlington. It ought, however, to be remembered, to the credit of Ver- 
mont, that as tarly as 1785, while disputes existed between her and New Hamp- 
shire, she made a grant of 23,000 acres of land to Dartmouth College and Moor's 
charity school; institutions which had gone into successful operation. The pream- 
ble to the act is creditable to the legislature, as showing their liberal views : tl The 
legislature having a high sense of the importance of the institutions of Dartmouth 
college and Moor's charity school to mankind at large, and to tnis commonwealth 
in particular ; its situation and connections being favorable to diffuse useful know- 
ledge through the same ; Be it therefore enacted," &c. 

22 



170 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

It appears that, besides obtaining an act of incorporation of the university, little 
or nothing was done at Burlington, for several years. The historian of Vermont, 
Dr. Samuel Williams, gives the following account of the matter. " The encour- 
agement of education and literature was an object that much engaged the atten- 
tion of this assembly, namely, the one in session in A. D. 1800. The University 
of Vermont, established in the year 1791, had not been in operation, as was ex- 
pected. The town contained but few inhabitants, and it was not in their power to 
erect the necessary buildings, procure a suitable library, philosophical apparatus, or 
the proper accommodations for professors and students. The trustees were embar- 
rassed and seldom met, and a president was not appointed for the seminary. The 
citizens of Middlebury were anxious to have a seminary in thft place. They 
erected a small, but convenient building, procured books, appointed an instructor, 
and collected a number of students. Their exertions produced more of a literary 
appearance, than was to be seen at Burlington. In this state of things, tbey urged 
the legislature to let them go on and make a college out of the school they had al- 
ready formed. The matter had been suggested to the assembly the year before; it 
was now urged with more warmth, and the legislature were invited to view and ex- 
amine what they had already done. After much debate and reasoning upon the 
subject, a majority of the house were of the opinion that the exertions of Middle- 
bury ought to be encouraged ; that the most probable way to encourage the intro- 
duction and cultivation of science in the State, would be to favor those who were 
willing to be at the expense of it, and to make it the interest of such societies to en- 
deavor to excel and improve upon each other: And an act incorporating and es- 
tablishing a college at Middlebury, in the county of Addison, was passed by a great 
majority : yeas, 177 ; nays, 51.'*— pp. 302, 303. 

Before the establishment of Middlebury college, great inconvenience was suf- 
fered from being obliged to send young men out of the State to obtain an educa- 
tion. A petition from Franklin county, for a college, presented to the Legislature 
in 1800, and now lodged in the office of the Secretary of State, dwells on this fact 
in the following language. " Begretting the want of any literary institution in our 
vicinity, now in actual and sufficient operation ; viewing the great distance between 
us and Williams and Dartmouth, or any other university; considering that there 
are numerous young gentlemen in the vicinity, anxious and able to procure a pub- 
lic education, and that numbers must immediately be compelled to go to older 
States for this purpose," the petitioners urged the establishment of a college in 
that county. There was a public want in the State. And what made some of the 
inhabitants of Middlebury the more sensible of this want, and the more active to 
supply it, was the following circumstance. The father of Jeremiah Evarts. when 
on his way to New Haven to place his son in Yale College, visited some of his 
friends in Middlebury. He mentioned to them his regret, that he was forced to send 
his son to such a distance because there was no college in Vermont. This instance 
occurring before their eyes, and supposed to be one of many, had its influence up- 
on some, who were afterwards instrumental in promoting the establishment of the 
college. 

The charter of Addison County Grammar School was granted in the year 1797. 



APPENDIX. 1T1 



Instead of S 1.000, which was required iD the act lor the erection of an edifice, 
more than $4,000 was raised chiefly by the inhabitants of Middlebury. Their 
hopes grew with their efforts. Dr. Dwight was at Middlebury in 1798, while the 
edifice was in progress of erection, and encouraged them to prosecute the plan of 
establishing a college. A2cordingly.it was concluded to make application to the 
legislature, in the hope, on the part of some, that the wild lands which had been 
granted to the University of Vermont, would naturally be given to Middlebury 
College, as this institution would go into immediate operation. A New England 
State, with a population of 154,465, ought to have a College in fact, as well as in 
name. And this was the opinion of the legislature, if the grant of the charter 
affords any proof. 

The act of incorporation already referred to, commences in these words. "An 
act incoiporating and establishing a College at Middlebury, in the county of Ad- 
dison. Section 1. It is hereby enacted by the general assembly of the State of 
Vermont, that there be, and hereby is, granted, instituted and established, a Col' 
lege in the town of Middlebury, and county of Addison ; and that Messrs. Jeremi- 
ah Atwater, Nathaniel Chipman, Heman Ball, Elijah Paine, Gamaliel Painter, Is- 
rael Smith, Stephen R. Bradley, Seth Storrs, Stephen Jacob, Daniel Chipman, 
Lot Hall, Aaron Leland, Gershom C. Lyman, Samuel Miller, Jedediah P. Bucking- 
ham, and Darius Matthews, shall be an incorporate society, and shall hereafter be 
called and known by the name of the President and Fellows of Middlebury college." 

Immediately after this act was passed, the corporation held their first meeting, 
Nov. 4, 1800. Rev. Jeremiah Atwater was, by the act of incorporation, made 
President. He had, for some years, been a Tutor in Yale College ; and, afterwards 
Principal of the Addison County Grammar School. To this latter situation, he 
had been recommended by Dr. Dwight, with a prospective regard to the presidency. 
At that meeting, Col. Seth Storrs was appointed Secretary, aud Joel Doolittle, Tu- 
tor. On the following day, seven students were admitted into the College. At 
the first commencement, in 1802, one received the degree of A. B.; at the next, 
three ; at the third, twelve ; at the fourth, in 1805, sixteen. 

As in other infant institutions, so in this, the advantages enjoyed were very lim- 
ited; but there was. on the part of the students, a literary enterprise, a readiness to 
engage and persevere in literary labor, that compensated, in some degree, for the 
deficiencies in the means of instruction. The privileges were not numerous ; and, 
as an offset to this, they were not neglected. The strong feeling of individual re- 
sponsibility, produced vigorous intellectual effort. Many of the students were in 
moderate circumstances, and of mature age ; and hence there was an economy in 
their expenses, and a sobriety in their manners, that were favorable to the reputa- 
tion of the College. And besides this, the tone of feeling and conduct, on the 
part of the more considerate, had an important influence upon the younger and the 
more volatile, in forming their minds and their habits. 

The college, from the first, had been supported by a generous spirit of benevo- 
lence. Besides the charter, nothing had been given by the legislature. But, through 
the good providence of God, it had been blessed with efficient friends, who secured 
for it public favor and private bounty. But it was still felt that there was a great 



172 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

want of regular, systematic instruction, in some blanches of learning usually taught 
in colleges. To assist in supplying this want, Samuel Miller, Esq., proposed to 
make a donation to the College, of a thousand dollars. This was the more cred- 
itable to him, inasmuch as it shows that he did not fall into the common error of 
supposing that a College consists chiefly of certain edifices built in a certain form, 
and fitted up with rooms adapted to certain purposes. He even seems to have un- 
derstood the truth of the matter, that a College is a society of men associated for 
the promotion of learning and religion ; and that unless there are the wen, it is to no 
purpose that brick and marble are formed into structures of great convenience and 
eiegance. 

This gentleman ought to be mentioned as an early, constant, and efficient friend 
of the College. " He was born in West Springfield, Mass., in A. D. 1764. For his 
early education, he had only the advantages of the most ordinary schools. But 
diligence and perseverance were his most distinguishing traits, and in these he has 
been rarely surpassed. Of him it may be said more truly than of almost any oth- 
er man, that in all these respects in which he was superior to the common rank of 
men, he was self made. He was licensed to practise law by the Rutland County 
Court, at the March term, A. D. 1787 ; and in the May following, he settled in Mid- 
dlebury. By his unremitting assiduity, he soon gained a standing among the first 
lawyers of the State, and steadily maintained it through life. Few men have ever 
united so much business wilh so much reading: so much attention to friends, and 
s« punctual a discharge of the relative and social duties. He died in the resigna- 
tion and hope of the gospel, in the evening of the 17th of April, 1810, in theforty 
seventh year of his age." 

In consequence of this offer to the corporation, a successful effort was made to 
raise funds to support a professorship of natural philosophy. Frederick Hall was 
appointed to that office. The reputation of that gentlemen, both before and after 
his visit to Europe, and bis assiduous attention to his official duties, contributed es- 
sentially to promote the prosperity of the College. 

In August, 1809, president Atwater gave in his resignation, and was transferred 
to the presidency of Dickinson College. In accepting his resignation, the corpora- 
tion voted, that Col. Seth Storrs. "be requested to present to him the warmest thanks 
of the board for his faithful discharge of duty ; and his unremitting exertions, by 
which this institution has arisen from its infant state to its present flourishing con- 
dition." 

At the same commencement, Henry Davis, Professor of Languages in Union Col- 
lege, and formerly Professor of Divinity elect in Yale College, was appointed pres- 
ident. Having accepted the appointment, he delivered his inaugural oration in 
February, 1810. 

The increasing number of the'students requiring more extensive accommoda- 
tions, it was resolved, at a meeting of the corporation in October, 1810, to ''erect a 
new College edifice on the ground lately conveyed to the president and fellows of 
Middlebury College by Col. Seth Storrs." It was likewise resolved to petition the 
legislature for assistance. Accordingly a petition was presented, a copy of which 
was printed in the journal of the House for the year 1810. In that petition, there 



APPENDIX. 173 

were exhibited a concise history of the College, its condition and its wants. The 
petition was respectfully received, and referred to a committee. This committee 
in their leport say, that in their opinion, " the report of the president and fellows of 
Middlebury College is true ; and that the said institution deserves the attention 
and consideration of the legislature of the State. Without funds or public pat- 
rouage, it has hitherto flourished in an unparalleled* degree ; and your com mittee 
verily believe, that the corporation and officers of said College, and those private 
individuals whc have made donations to the same, for their meritorious exertions 
in the promotion of science and the arts, are highly deserving the applause of this 
legislature. But at this time, your committee can devise no means by which the 
legislature can expediently afford relief. Your committee, therefore, recommend 
to this House, to refer said petition to the next session of the legislature ; and that 
said president and fellows be requested to make report of the situation of the said 
institution at that time." 

This instance is in fact a history of all the vaiious applications for aid from the 
legislature. They have called forth the expression of friendly feeling, but no pe- 
cuniary aid. There has seemed to be but little of that spirit which animated the 
hearts of the fathers of New England, when they laid the foundations of those in- 
stitutions which are, and have been, the glory and salvation of our land. There 
has been but little of that spirit which, in 1785, piompted the legislature of Ver- 
mont to make the grant already mentioned, to Dartmouth College, and Moor's 
Charity School. The connection between the higher institutions of learning and 
the prosperity of the State, is but very imperfectly understood. 

There were, however, private individuals who subscribed for the erection of a 
new College edifice, which was commenced and completed under the superinten- 
dence of Judge Painter. 

In 181 1, Oliver Huiburd was appointed Professor of Languages. He was a na- 
tive of Orwell, Vermont, was graduated at the College in 1806 with the highest 
honors. In 1808, he was appointed senior Tutor and Librarian. He is described 
as a gentleman of a strong mind, of great application to his studies, and of fervent 
piety. His health becoming impaired, he resigned his office in the College in 1812, 
in order to take up his residence in Georgia, as a parish minister. Not long after 
his arrival there, he died in the midst of his usefulness, greatly lamented. 

The Rev. John Hough was unanimously elected to fill the vacancy occasioned 
by the resignation of Professor Huiburd. 

In an address to the patrons of religion and science, published about this time, 
it is stated that the " prosperity of this seminary had more than equalled the ex- 
pectations of its most aident friends." The number on the annual catalogue, was 
one hundred and twenty-six ; and the moral and religious condition, very satis- 
factory. 

In August, 1813, was formed the Middlebury College Charitable Society. The 
object of this society is set forth in the "Account of its Institution and Transac- 
tions," published in 1817. " A number of gentlemen in this vicinity, deeply im- 
pressed with the importance of furnishing the churches with pious and well-edu- 
cated clergymen ; and understanding that many young men in this section of the 



174 MLDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

country, of promising talents, and of unquestioned pietv, were prevented, by press- 
ing poverty, from qualifying themselves to be preachers of the gospel, feel it to 
be then imperious duty to form an association, whose object should be to encourage 
and assist such persons in obtaining a liberal education. A meeting with this 
view was held on the 1 7th of the same month, and a society organized. Rev. 
Henry Davis, D. D., was appointed President ; Hon. Gamaliel Painter, Vice Pres- 
ident ; Samuel Swift, Esq.. Secretary ; Prof. Frederic Hall, Rev. Thomas A. Mer- 
rill, Rev. John Hough, Rev. Bancroft Fowler, Hon. Chauncey Langdon, Direc- 
tors." To this society Hon. William Hall gave, $500; the Grand Chapter of the 
State, $50; and the Evangelical Society, in notes $442 57. In 1819, $3,606 85 
had been given to the society. The money received by the students to assist them 
in their education, was, for the most part, loaned ; but in some instances given. 
By this society, something like sixty young men have been assisted in obtaining 
an education. It ceased to collect funds about the time of the formation of the 
NorthWestern Branch of the American Education Society, in 1820 ; though it 
still continues to extend aid to some of the students at their graduation. 

The Evangelical Society, just mentioned as having transferred some of its notes 
to the Middlebury College Charitable Society, was organized at Pawlet, March 6, 
1804. " James Davis proposed to the cleigy to establish a society for the educa- 
tion of young men, offering to give a certain sum for this purpose." In conse- 
quence of his efforts, this society was formed at that time ; and was the first Edu- 
ucation Society established in this country. The officers were Rev. William Jackson , 
President; Rev. Nathaniel Hall, Vice President ; Rev, John Griswold, Secretary ; 
Ezekiel Hermon, Esq., Treasurer. It was stated that the " object of this society 
was to aid pious and ingenious young men in indigent circumstances, to acquire 
an education for the work of the gospel ministry." 

In the yea'r 1815, the North College was completed under the superintendence of 
Judge Painter. 

In 1816, subscriptions for a permanent fund, for the benefit of the College, were 
made, amounting to more than fifty thousand dollars. Owing to a change of times 
for the worse, and some misunderstanding which unexpectedly grew up, not so 
much as one third of this sum was ever collected. Though this affair involved the 
College in a disagreeable and unsuccessful litigation, still the amount paid in by 
the subscribers, was of so much consequence to the institution, that without thid 
aid, it could hardly have been sustained. 

At the annual commencement, this year, a professorship of Chemistry was es- 
tablished; and Gamaliel S. Olds, of Greenfield, Mass., was appointed to the of- 
fice. He never joined the institution. At the same lime Proiessor Hough was 
transferred to the Professorship of Divinity, which was then established, and Sol- 
omon M. Allen was appointed Professor of Languages in his place. Professor 
Allen is described as a gentleman of great mental and moral worth, and of great 
energy of character. The circumstances of his death, which happened about a 
year after his appointment, were deeply distressing. They are thus narrated by 
Professor Hall, in his eulogy. "Professor Allen, to remedy a defect in his chim- 
ney, had ascended to the top of the new College building, and was standing on a 



APPENDIX. 175 

pole, which he had caused to be elevated nearly to the summit of the chimney. 
He had often been in this situation before, but had always, till this time, taken the 
precaution to secure himself from injury, by putting a rope around him, the other 
end of which was fastened to some substantial object. The pole being weakened 
by having a large auger hole bored through it, gave way, and let him fall first, a 
distance of eight or ten feet, to the roof of the edifice, down which he slid, and was 
precipitated to the ground, which was about forty feet below. In the fall, he 
struck a stone, by which his shoulder was shockingly fractured. He was imme- 
diately carried into the building, and all the medical gentlemen in the vicinity 
were called to his aid, but weie called, alas ! in vain. His case was pronounced 
to be hopeless. He was fully aware of his danger, and said to one who stood near 
him, ' I must die." The melancholy event took place about three o'clock in the 
afternoon. A li' tie belore ten on the evening of the same day, he bade adieu to 
his house of cla}', andentered the world of spirits." 

To supply his place, Robert B. Patton. now of the University of New York, was 
appointed Professor of Languages. 

President Davis resigned his situation. Oct. 6, 1817,to accept the Presidency of 
Hamilton College. On the succeeding day, the Corporation made choice of Rev. 
Joshua Bales, of Dedham.Mass., as his successor. Having accepted his appoint- 
ment, he delivered his inaugural address on the 18th of March, 1818. 

The College still continued to prosper under the new arrangement. In 1824, 
Prof. Hall, recently President of Mount Hope College, Md., resigned his office in 
the College, which was filled in 1825, by the appointment of Prof. Edward Turner. 

In this last year, Prof. Patton likewise resigned his office, which has since been 
filled by Prof. Hough. 

In 1828, the professorship of Chemistry was filled by the appointment of Rev. 
William C. Fowler, of Greenfield. Mass. 

In the year 1833, it was resolved that an effort should be made to raise the sum 
of $50,000, for erecting new College buildings; for sustaining an efficient manual 
labor department ; for sustaining an additional professor; for creating a fund to 
pay the tuition of worthy indigent students; for increasing the library, philosophi- 
cal apparatus, cabinet of minerals, &c. By the conditions of the subscription, it 
was made binding upon the subscribers, if $30,000 should be subscribed before the 
first day of October, 1835, which, after great labor, was accomplished. 

In 1836, the chapel was completed, under the superintendence of Ira Stewart 
Esq. Besides a place for public worship, it contains three lecture rooms, two 
rooms for the College and the philosophical libraries, six recitation rooms, and 
three private rooms for the officeis. It is ssventy-five feet in length by fifty-five 
feet in breadth. It is built of stone. The front presents a handsome appearance, 
beingbuiltof square, smooth blocks of dark-coloied limestone. 

The College north of this, was erected in 1815. It is built in a very substantial 
manner, of light-colored limestone. It is 106 feet in length, 40 feet in breadth; 
and contains 48 rooms for students. 

The East College, so called, was erected a year or two before the charter of the 
College was granted. It has recently undergone a thorough repair. The public 



176 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 

rooms have been converted into convenient rooms for students. 

T>.e subscription made for building the east College, has already been men- 
tioned. A subscription of several thousand dollars was made in 1810, for erect- 
ing the north College. For the estallishmenlof a permanent fund in 1816, some- 
thing over $50,000 was subscribed ; and in money, $'1 1,392, and in land, by esti- 
mation, $2,850, were paid. The reason why the whole was not collected, has al- 
read) been given. 

In the years 1832— 5, something more than thirty thousand dollars were sub- 
scribed for the purposes mentioned above. This is now in the course of collec- 
tion. 

Besides these associated efforts, there are some individuals, both amorg the 
living and among the dead, who have been distinguished for iheir If eia'iiy 10 the 
College. Samuel Miller, Esq , has already been mentioned. Cen.Arad Hunt, of 
Hindsdale, N . H., in 1813, deeded lands in Albany, Vt., to the College, amounting 
to more than 5,000 acres. These lands are Decerning valuable ; and their annual 
rents are already an important portion of the income of the College. Other wild 
lands, amounting to two or three thousand acres, have likewise been given to the 
College. 

Gamaliel Painter, Esq., made the College his residuary legatee. From his es- 
tate, something like $13,000 -was realized. Judge Painter was born in New Ha- 
ven, Conn., May, 1773 ; died May 21, 1819, aged 76. He was a gentleman of 
great excellence of character. Besides being the firm friend and benefactor of 
the College, he was regarded as the father of the village. On his monument, e- 
rected at the expense of the corporation, he is described as a patriot of the revo- 
lution, faithful in civil office, amiable in private life, distinguished for enterprise 
and public spirit. The assistance rendered by this last act of kindness to the 
College, relieved it of embarrassing debts. 

In 1828, Joseph Buir, Esq.. of Manchester, left a legacy to the College, of $12,- 
800, as the foundation of a professorship. He died April 14, 1828, aged 56. He 
was a native of Long Island. He is described as a man of great simplicity of 
manners, and of great regularity in his habits and of honesty in his dealings. He 
never made a profession of religion, " but was esteemed by Christian men who 
knew him well, as truly a pious man." 

In 1334, Dea. Isaac Warren, of Charlestown, Mass., left a legacy to the Col- 
lege, of $3,000, besides subscribing $1^000 for the support of an additional pro- 
fessor. 

Soon after the establishment of the College, the Philomathesian Society was 
formed for the improvement of the students at large. It was incorporated in 
1822, and has a library of about 2,000 volumes. " At its meetings, which are 
held on Wednesday of every week during term time, compositions are read and 
a question discussed by members previously appointed." It has an annual exhi- 
bition the day before commencement." 

In 1804, the Philadelphian Society was formed. It includes only professors of 
religion ; and " is designed to promote among its members a knowledge of divine 
things." Its influence has been very salutary. It has a library of nearly 500 vol- 
umes. 



APPENDIX. 177 



In 1813, the Beneficent Society was formed, for the purpose of providing indi- 
gent students with text-books. It now furnishes to three-fourths of all the stu- 
dents of the College, the necessary text-books. Indigent students thus obtain 
their books free of expense, and other members of the society obtain the same 
privilege, by paying a small sum annually. 

The College library was commenced in 1809, by a number of public spirited in- 
dividuals, who subscribed something like a thousand dollars for the purchase of 
books, The whole was divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each, the pay- 
ment ol which entitled the subscriber to certain rights and privileges. These 
shares have, for the most part, been purchased in, or given to the College. The li- 
brary has, since that time, been increased, principally by the donation of Dooks> 
The whole number of books is somewhat over 2,500 volumes. Measures have 
been taken to increase the library, by an annual appropriation. The philosophi. 
cal apparatus, the most of it, was imported from London in 1817. There were a 
few articles procured in 1801. A valuable air-pump was at that time obtained of 
Dr. Prince, of Salem, Mass., who visited Middlebury on the business. For an 
increase of the apparatus, the corporation made a handsome appropriation at their 
last meeting. 

The greater part of the chemical apparatus was imported from London in 1828. 
when the professorship was first filled. It receives a moderate annual increase. 
For a number of years, the College depended on the valuable cabinet of Prof. Hall 
for illustrations in mineralogy. Some pains have been taken to collect minerals 
for the College, since 1828, and a cabinet of some value has been formed, which 
will soon be increased by purchases. 

The Associated Alumni of Middlebury College, held their first meeting in Au- 
gust, 1824. They annually appoint an orator and a poet to address them at com- 
mencement. They have published several valuable orations. 

A Mechanical Association was formed in 1829, for the purpose of engaging in 
manual labor. A shop was built and tools collected. The experiment thus far 
has been very much liKe those tried in other places. A few students have de- 
rived some advantage to their health, from the exercise. 

The College assumed a decidedly religious character in 1805. At thai time, a 
revivalof religion commenced, which continued, we are informed, " two or three 
years." Before that time, in 1801, there was a revival of religion, and since, there 
have been several of longer or shorter continuance, of temporary or permanent 
power. If, upon examination, it should be found that not as many students have 
become pious in proportion to the whole number, as in some other Colleges, it 
should be remembered, that more than in most Colleges, were already pious when 
they entered the institution. There has been, at periods, an elevated tone of piety, 
especially of the active kind. 

* # * The preceding article was written in February 1 837, at the request of the 
Editor of the Quarterly Kegister. The Committee have availed themselves of 
such extracts only, as embodied tho historical facts ] and subjoin a sketch con- 
taining the principal events, to the present date. 



178 MIDDLEBUKY COLLEGE JUBILEE. 



ADDENDA. 

During the year 1838, many changes occurred in the Faculty of the College. 
The chair of English. Literature was established by the Corporation, and Prof. 
Hough, who had occupied, since 1825, the chair of Languages, with distinguished 
credit and useiulness, was transferred to the new Piofessorship. 

The College met with a severe loss in the death of Prof. Turner, —a gentleman 
of great amiability and gifted with rare mathematical endowments. He had dis- 
charged with a high degree of acceptableness to his pupils, the duties of Mathe- 
matical professor in the College, for nearly thirteen year«. His death, which oc- 
curred in the winter, was deeply deplored by a large circle of acquaintances. 

Prof. Fowler, who by anew arrangement of the winter term, officiated as Pres- 
ident, during the winter of 1838, and who by his amenity and pleasing method of 
instruction, had endeared himself to his pupils, resigned his professorship 
of Chemistry and Natural History, to accept a chair, which had been ten- 
dered him at Amherst College. 

Mr. Solomon Stoddard was chosen to fill the chair vacated by the death of Prof. 
Turner. He was, however, employed in the duties of this professorship but a few 
months, and was, the same year, transferred to the chair of Languages ; and Mr. 
Alexander C. Twining, of New Haven, Conn., was preferred to the professorship 
of Mathematics. 

Mr. C. B. Adams was elected professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, 
and entered upon the duties of his office with great zeal and efficiency, the same 
year. 

The inaugural addresses of the new Professors were delivered at the C allege 
Chapel on the 18th day of March, 1839, 

In 1839, President Bates and Prof. Hoagh tendered their resignations, and bid 
adieu to the Institution, which they had sustained and adorned, for nearly a quarter 
of a century. 

It was impossible that the College, dependent as it was on the resources of pri- 
vate beneficence, should not be checked in ilsprogress, by these numerous changes 
and disasters. 

The Institution, deprived of its head, was nevertheless, through the exertions 
of Prof. Stoddard,— acting as President, — and his associates, enabled tostiuggle 
through the difficulties which environed it. 

The commencement of 1840 occurred before the Corporation were able to de- 
signate the successor of President Bates. At that Commencement, the Rev. N. 
S. S. Beman, D. D., officiated as President, conferring the degrees. At the same 
time, Rev. Benjamin Labaree, then a Secretary of the American Education 
Society, was with great unanimity, elected President. On his arrival to take 
charge of his duties, in October, 1840, the students manifested their gratification 
by a general illumination of the College buildings. 

During thesameyear, Rev. Albert Smith, of the class of 1831, Professor in 
Marshall College, Pa., was elected to the chair made vacant by the resignation of 



APPENDIX. 



179 



Prof. Hough. Professor Smith resigned in 1844 ; and in 1846, Rev. James Meach- 
am, of the class of 1832, was elected in his stead. ♦ 

The friends of the College, in its immediate vicinity,felt the importance of re- 
newed exertions in its behalf; and the sum oi Eight Thousand Dollars was ob- 
tained by subscription for the object, in Middlebury and its neighborhood. This 
subscription, for want of a proper agent to carry it forward, was not further pros, 
ecuted. 

The changes of 1838, were almost literally re-produced in 1847, though fortu- 
nately with less disastrous results. Professors Twining c.nd .Adrms resigned 
their chairs , the former to resume his profession as a Civil Engineer : the lattei to 
acceptaprofessorship at Amherst, the place of his education. 

Prof. Stoddard, this year, fell the victim of a lingering disease, which termin- 
ated a life of great usefulness and brighter piomise. He contributed very ma- 
terially to elevate the standard of scholarship in the College ; and in his particu- 
lar department, will long be remembered with affection, as a patient, thorough and 
discriminating teacher. His loss was not less sensibly felt in the community 
where he lived. 

The friends of the College again came forward toits assistance. President Lab- 
aree took the field in person. By his exertions, and those of other efficient friends 
the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand, Eive Hundred Dollars, payable in yearly in- 
stalments, for five years, was obtained by subscription, in the short space of 
eight months. 

In 1848, Hon. Horace Eaton, M. D., of the class of 1825, was elected Professor 
of Chemistry and Natural History ; Mr. R. D. C. Robbins, of the class of 1835, 
was preferred to the chair of Languages ; and Mr. W. H. Parker, of the class of 
1830, received the professorship of Mathematics. These gentlemen immediate- 
ly entered upon the duties of their respective appointments, and are the present 
professors in those departments. 



Note. The Committee have been obliged, in some cases, to content themselves 
with a mere summary of the speeches at the Dinner, when they would willinglv 
have presented the whole, had they been furnished with an adequate report One 
or two which were abridged in the delivery, have been more fully presented. 

The special supervision of this publication together with supplying a sketch of 
the proceedings and additional notes, to the historical statement appended, having 
been conducted amidst the engagements of ordinary professional business, impor- 
tant omissions may have occurred ; or errors of the press, or of form may have 
escaped detection. It is hoped this explanation may be a satisfactory apology. 

J. A. B. 



